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The cross is the place where everything becomes overturned.
Innocence becomes guilt
The gospel writers detail the trials of Jesus not to show the guilt of the judges but to show the innocence of the defendant. All that Jesus had done wrong was to declare the truth: that he was the Son of God, the Messiah. No other charge was made against him. Yet in being crucified, Jesus was judged a criminal and executed between criminals.
Power becomes weakness
In the gospels, Jesus is a man of extraordinary power and authority; all things – wind and waves, food and drink, sickness and death – obey him. Jesus is the king of nature. Yet on the cross, Jesus lays all this aside: he becomes mocked and helpless, unable to move even his own hands and feet. ‘Go on, save yourself,’ jeer the leaders.’ You saved others, save yourself.’
Fellowship becomes separation
All through his life Jesus had perfect fellowship with God, yet on the cross he becomes separated from him. Jesus knows God intimately as Father and rejoices in the access that he has to God, but on the cross a barrier descends between them.
Life becomes death
Jesus was the one who raised people from the dead, the one who declared that he was Life. Yet now he submits to death of the very worst kind. He of whom John could say ‘Life itself was in him’ dies.
The key to understanding the cross is to be found in the words of Jesus at the Last Supper when he declared that the bread was his body broken ‘for you’ and the wine was his blood shed ‘for you’. It is that repeated phrase ‘for you’ that ultimately explains both the cross and Jesus. What happened at the cross was substitution.
The cross is the place of exchange. It is where Jesus descended to the depths so that we might ascend to the heights. It is where Jesus, out of love, became everything that we human beings are – guilty, weak, separated from God and subject to death – in order that we may, if we choose, share in his innocence, his power, his fellowship with God, his life.
And when you understand that, referring to the worst day in the history of the world as ‘Good’ Friday makes sense.
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