"Perhaps Good really is a subjective term."
So let's see. Today is Good Friday, the day we remember that Christ died in a gruesome, unnecessarily painful, overtly humiliating manner for the sake of the very people who killed him. The day is about the corruption of the religious people of His day, the betrayal of people who claimed to love Him, the cruelty of the Roman justice system, the ridicule and mockery of His executioners, the heartache and disappointment of those who loved Him and believed in Him most, the abandonment He endured as His God forsook Him...
It wasn't a good day for Judas Iscariot. He went out and hanged himself.
Pilate didn't have a good day. He condemned an innocent man to die and released a criminal. That isn't how or why he became a Prefectus in the Roman Empire. He violated everything he was about, and became his own antithesis that day, and knew it even as it unfolded. His suicide came a few years later.
Peter had a terrible day. He denied knowing the One he had sworn to die for just hours before.
Jesus' mother? Let's not talk about her day. Nobody hurts like a mom.
Just exactly who was Good Friday good for?
Even subjectively speaking, this doesn't sound like "Good". I can think of many better ways to spend a Friday without even thinking very hard. I'm on my way to Houston for a really fun weekend with excellent food, cute guys, perfect weather, great conversation and just the right amount of alcohol.
So, I'm thinking,"Who had a Good Friday on that particular Friday so long ago?"
Barabbas had a great day. Through absolutely no action of his own, his cross was given to another and he tasted freedom. I have no idea what he did with that freedom - whether he squandered it or made the most of it. But that day he experienced Grace (unearned and unmerited favor). He received a new life.
I guess I'm glad Barabbas had a Good Friday.