The best Friday was not Black Friday

Black Friday seems to come earlier every year. The phenomenon started as a day-after-Thanksgiving opportunity, when shoppers were off work and poured into stores to take advantage of sales that would put retailers “in the black” (as opposed to “in the red”) on their balance sheets for the year.

It grew, and grew, and grew some more. Pretty soon, even workers who didn’t have that Friday off would take the day off from their jobs to do Black Friday shopping.

But Black Friday, just as any other pseudo-holiday, has gotten out of hand.

The sales emails, fliers, and broadcast ads come earlier and earlier each year.

“Pre-Black Friday Sale!” the ads announce. “Early Black Friday Deals!” the email subject lines shout.

What?

If it’s not the actual day after Thanksgiving, why not just call it a sale? (Can I get an amen?)

Well, that’s because “Black Friday,” at least in the United States, has become a thing. An event. A phenomenon. A can’t-miss experience. (For many. Not for this gal. I hate to shop.)

Retailers and influencers latched onto Black Friday in a way that somewhat obscures the actual holiday – Thanksgiving, the day families gather to give thanks to God for our blessings.

But you know what the best “Friday” was – the one Christians refer to as Good Friday?

It was the one 2,000 years ago, when Jesus of Nazareth was crucified. (Truth be told, I believe Jesus’ crucifixion was actually on a Thursday, but that’s a story for another day.)

On that Friday, there was an exchange – a transaction. A price was paid.

No dollars were exchanged, no credit cards swiped. No debt accumulated. (In fact, just the opposite.)

You see, this was no ordinary purchase.

Jesus Christ – the God-Man who came to earth specifically to die for our sins – paid the ultimate price that day, and it can’t be counted in American currency or any other method of payment that we understand.

It’s hard to wrap our brains around this act of love, but he purchased our forgiveness from eternal punishment. He redeemed us.

GOOD FRIDAY.

As it says in 1 Corinthians 6:20, “you were bought with a price.” That price was the life of Jesus, a man who never sinned, when he sacrificed himself for the sins of the rest of us.

The crazy thing is that he willingly gave his life for us. The history books may say he was murdered – and we could get into the injustice of His trial and everything that happened after – but our God, the Creator of the universe, gave his life freely. He could’ve stopped it, but His crucifixion – for our redemption – was the reason He took on human flesh and dwelt among us.

His love for us is that deep, wide, and high (Ephesians 3:18).

So when I celebrate a Friday, it’s not because of big discounts at the department store. It’s not because it’s the start of the weekend.

It’s because Friday (or Thursday) is the day we remember His death. Without His death, there would be no resurrection – no victory over our sins.

That transaction cost Him everything, but it costs us nothing.

That Friday was black, all right, but when Sunday morning came, the Light was blinding.

The debt for our sins was marked PAID IN FULL.

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If you don’t know the peace that comes from knowing that Jesus paid for your sins, please see my post How to Know Jesus.