In the panoply of made-up holidays, Black Friday has always been a shade of gray.

Whereas other holidays have religious foundations or have achieved standing through government recognition, Black Friday emerged and continues to emerge at the whims of the market. Once limited to one day of the year (the Friday after Thanksgiving the day in the fiscal year when retail stores went from the financial “red” to being in the “black” with sales), Black Friday has now been extended by retailers like Amazon and Walmart to “Black Friday Week.” The weekend, it appears, is now working all week long.

A Non-Traditional Holiday

Of course, Black Friday is not quite a holiday in the strictest sense, but it meets the general criteria very well. Think about it. Black Friday has established rituals (like 4:00 a.m. doorbuster mob rushes and lightning deals on everything you or loved ones don’t need). Just like Christmas and Easter emerged as part of a liturgical calendar, Black Friday is part of the natural rhythm of retail culture. Stores may not decorate for it like they do Halloween, Christmas, or Valentine’s Day, but they do pivot the shopping season around the concept.

Black Friday also has offspring: Cyber Monday (for online shopping) and Giving Tuesday (for online charitable giving). These children of Black Friday, though much more recent (both were born in the past 20 years), are just like their parents in their inability to locate themselves within a particular day. And if Black Friday is the mother of this financial family of observances, then their father is undoubtedly Christmas. Like Christmas, Black Friday is no respecter of days, and like Christmas, Black Friday exists in your heart.

Consumed by Consumerism

To be a consumer isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The ability to buy and sell is in many ways a blessing — part of God’s common grace to mankind. Though it’s constantly maligned by Marxists, capitalism — done rightly — is a good thing for society, giving opportunity for the seller to succeed in business, and for the buyer to obtain what they need.

But as we shift from consumer to consumerism, we begin to move from something that is good and necessary to something that begins to define us. This happens in many ways. In the extreme, the hoarder is the consumerist writ large — he never stops consuming. But it could be as simple as identifying with Ford versus Chevy or Apple versus Android. Consumerism could also manifest itself in the need to express oneself through certain brands of clothing. I don’t always write articles about Black Friday, but when I do, I use Microsoft Word.

Consumerism, a condition encouraged without apology by many Black Friday celebrants, takes us on a wrong turn by making us feed from a trough that will never quite fill us. This kind of buying and selling may offer us a good deal or two, but it will never fully satisfy.

A Better Deal

No matter how enticing the markdown, there’s always a better deal somewhere else that you never seem to get. Thankfully, there’s a better way than consumerism. Proverbs encourages us to, “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” These are all goods more durable than that 60-inch flatscreen doorbuster.

The prophet Isaiah gives us an alternative for the consumer that is ultimately more filling. In Isaiah 55:1–5, he says:

“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.”

No matter how deep the Black Friday discounts are, Isaiah’s vision is for a far better offer for the buyer: “Come, buy wine and milk without price.” Isaiah’s prophecy for God’s covenant people is one in which God is the one who fills the need, and it is given freely by his grace. That price has been already paid — also on a Friday — by Christ’s death in our place for our sins. I’ll take Good Friday over Black Friday any day.