There is always a question why the Friday when Jesus suffered and died is called a Good Friday. Many do believe that the word Good Friday came from the word ‘God’s Friday’. There are others who interpret ‘Good’ in the sense of ‘Holy’. In fact, several orthodox Christians choose to call this as Great Friday. The other names given to this day include Black Friday, Long Friday and Sorrowful Friday. In German, for example, the day is called Karfreitag, or “Sorrowful Friday.” In English, in fact, the origin of the term “Good” is debated: some believe it developed from an older name, “God’s Friday.” Regardless of the origin, the name Good Friday is entirely appropriate because the suffering and death of Jesus, as terrible as it was, marked the dramatic culmination of God’s plan to save his people from their sins.
In order for the good news of the gospel to have meaning for us, we first have to understand the bad news of our condition as sinful people under condemnation. The good news of deliverance only makes sense once we see how we are enslaved. Another way of saying this is that it is important to understand and distinguish between law and gospel in Scripture. We need the law first to show us how hopeless our condition is; then the gospel of Jesus’ grace comes and brings us relief and salvation.
In the same way, Good Friday is “good” because as terrible as that day was, it had to happen for us to receive the joy of Easter. The wrath of God against sin had to be poured out on Jesus, the perfect sacrificial substitute, in order for forgiveness and salvation to be poured out to the nations. Without that awful day of suffering, sorrow, and shed blood at the cross, God could not be both “just and the justifier” of those who trust in Jesus (Romans 3:26). Paradoxically, the day that seemed to be the greatest triumph of evil was actually the deathblow in God’s gloriously good plan to redeem the world from bondage.
Good Friday is observed by Christians worldwide on the Friday before the Easter Sunday. As per the historical dates, it is believed that Jesus Christ was crucified on this day. Good Friday commemorates the passion, crucifixion and death of the Christ on the cross and enjoins the followers to remember his ultimate sacrifice for the welfare of the humanity. Good Friday falls on the day after Maundy Thursday.
Good Friday is the anniversary of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. Christians engage themselves sin fasting and praying on this day. In the afternoon, Church services are held. Usually, they are organized around midday to 3 PM to coincide with the hours when Jesus was crucified. In several countries, Good Friday is a public holiday. In some others, it is a federal holiday or state holiday. While most Christians take off from their regular work to attend the events in the Churches, only some go for work on this day.
The top highlight of Good Friday is the re-enactment of the event of Jesus’ crucifixion in the churches. The most famous ritual that happens on this day is called the Stations of the Cross which depicts the final hours of Jesus’ life. In several countries including India, Malta, Italy, Spain and Philippines, processions are held. In Bermuda, the most famous kite flying ceremony happens on Good Friday. During the occasion, huge numbers of handmade kites are flown on the region. These handmade kites are viewed as the symbol of cross on which Christ gave up his life and also the symbol of Jesus’ ascension to the heaven. This is an age old custom that has been followed since nineteenth century. The mood of Good Friday is a sense of solemnity and sadness since it remembers the suffering of the Christ on the cross. In countries like Belgium and Mexico, the churches are draped in black on this day in mourning the memories of crucifixion of Jesus. The ambiance in a lot of towns and villages are filled with an air of sadness. Christians in Poland live on roasted potatoes and dry bread on this day. Decorating Easter eggs start in many countries on Good Friday.
Since Good Friday is observed in memory of the Christ’s suffering on the cross, the crucifix or the cross is the most prominent symbol of the day. The cross represents the way in which Jesus died and sacrificed his life. Some crosses are plain while some others bear the image of Jesus on them. There are also other symbols like a black cloth covering the cross. In signifying mourning, in some places, the statues of Jesus and others are covered with black cloth while a large number of households remove flowers and shiny objects temporarily as a sign of mourning.
Christians claim that Jesus actually rose again — bodily and historically — from the dead on the first Easter day.Many, of course, do not believe.To them, Christians would humbly and graciously request to not prejudge the case, but to investigate it. But what really is at stake in the truth or falsity of the Christian claim that Jesus rose again from the dead on the first Easter morning? Found in the Bible,in one of his letters to the Christians in the ancient city of Corinth, the Apostle Paul, who was himself formerly a sceptic and enemy of Christianity,said that at least three fundamental stakes hinged on Easter:Faith, forgiveness, and future. Paul said that without Easter, there is no faith: “If Christ had not been raised then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14).
He also says, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile” (1 Cor. 15:17).The Christian faith stands or falls with the truth or falsity of the claim of Easter. If Jesus did not really rise from the dead, then the Christian faith and religion is sheer humbuggery.
Christians are deluding themselves; they are also misleading others. Paul goes on to say that “if Christ has not been raised,‘you are still in your sins’”(v.17).Christians believe that human beings are sinners and sinful.Obviously, there are naysayers about this Christian belief. But this is a belief that is remarkably consistent with the reality of our individual hearts within and our collective world without. The startling belief of Christianity, however, is also that God offers us forgiveness. Like a benevolent benefactor, who rescues a helplessly indebted person from his financial and legal woes by paying his debts on his behalf, Jesus pays the price of our sins and guilt through the gift of his own life.And his resurrection from the dead is akin to a court certifying the payment and receipt of the debt owed. If Christ had not been raised, then that would only mean that God had deemed his sacrificial death illegitimate and unacceptable before the divine court. In other words, the debt of our sins owed before God remains unpaid and we would remain unforgiving. This is the second stake of Easter — forgiveness. To be a true Christian (not just a nominal one) is about simply, humbly, and gratefully accepting the payment made by Jesus on behalf of humanity when he died on the first Good Friday. One is,of course,perfectly within one’s rights to refuse the payment. But that would be neither safe nor sensible.
It would be like the helpless debtor refusing the gift of the benefactor. Besides faith and forgiveness, the third stake in Easter is the future. Paul says that if Christ had not been raised from the dead, “then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished” (1 Cor.15:18), adding that “if in Christ we have hope in this life only; we are of all people most to be pitied” (v.19).In the Bible,the term usually used for the death of a follower of Christ — ‘sleep’.This is because followers of Jesus believe that death is not the permanent end. There is still a future beyond the grave,because of the resurrection of Christ and like the resurrected Christ, Christians believe that they will rise again.The ultimate hope of the Christian faith is neither annihilation nor reincarnation; it is resurrection. To be a believer in Christ is to hitch your wagon, not so much to a star, but to the risen son of Easter morning.
In order for the good news of the gospel to have meaning for us, we first have to understand the bad news of our condition as sinful people under condemnation. The good news of deliverance only makes sense once we see how we are enslaved. Another way of saying this is that it is important to understand and distinguish between law and gospel in Scripture. We need the law first to show us how hopeless our condition is; then the gospel of Jesus’ grace comes and brings us relief and salvation.
In the same way, Good Friday is “good” because as terrible as that day was, it had to happen for us to receive the joy of Easter. The wrath of God against sin had to be poured out on Jesus, the perfect sacrificial substitute, in order for forgiveness and salvation to be poured out to the nations. Without that awful day of suffering, sorrow, and shed blood at the cross, God could not be both “just and the justifier” of those who trust in Jesus (Romans 3:26). Paradoxically, the day that seemed to be the greatest triumph of evil was actually the deathblow in God’s gloriously good plan to redeem the world from bondage.
Good Friday is observed by Christians worldwide on the Friday before the Easter Sunday. As per the historical dates, it is believed that Jesus Christ was crucified on this day. Good Friday commemorates the passion, crucifixion and death of the Christ on the cross and enjoins the followers to remember his ultimate sacrifice for the welfare of the humanity. Good Friday falls on the day after Maundy Thursday.
Good Friday is the anniversary of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. Christians engage themselves sin fasting and praying on this day. In the afternoon, Church services are held. Usually, they are organized around midday to 3 PM to coincide with the hours when Jesus was crucified. In several countries, Good Friday is a public holiday. In some others, it is a federal holiday or state holiday. While most Christians take off from their regular work to attend the events in the Churches, only some go for work on this day.
The top highlight of Good Friday is the re-enactment of the event of Jesus’ crucifixion in the churches. The most famous ritual that happens on this day is called the Stations of the Cross which depicts the final hours of Jesus’ life. In several countries including India, Malta, Italy, Spain and Philippines, processions are held. In Bermuda, the most famous kite flying ceremony happens on Good Friday. During the occasion, huge numbers of handmade kites are flown on the region. These handmade kites are viewed as the symbol of cross on which Christ gave up his life and also the symbol of Jesus’ ascension to the heaven. This is an age old custom that has been followed since nineteenth century. The mood of Good Friday is a sense of solemnity and sadness since it remembers the suffering of the Christ on the cross. In countries like Belgium and Mexico, the churches are draped in black on this day in mourning the memories of crucifixion of Jesus. The ambiance in a lot of towns and villages are filled with an air of sadness. Christians in Poland live on roasted potatoes and dry bread on this day. Decorating Easter eggs start in many countries on Good Friday.
Since Good Friday is observed in memory of the Christ’s suffering on the cross, the crucifix or the cross is the most prominent symbol of the day. The cross represents the way in which Jesus died and sacrificed his life. Some crosses are plain while some others bear the image of Jesus on them. There are also other symbols like a black cloth covering the cross. In signifying mourning, in some places, the statues of Jesus and others are covered with black cloth while a large number of households remove flowers and shiny objects temporarily as a sign of mourning.
Christians claim that Jesus actually rose again — bodily and historically — from the dead on the first Easter day.Many, of course, do not believe.To them, Christians would humbly and graciously request to not prejudge the case, but to investigate it. But what really is at stake in the truth or falsity of the Christian claim that Jesus rose again from the dead on the first Easter morning? Found in the Bible,in one of his letters to the Christians in the ancient city of Corinth, the Apostle Paul, who was himself formerly a sceptic and enemy of Christianity,said that at least three fundamental stakes hinged on Easter:Faith, forgiveness, and future. Paul said that without Easter, there is no faith: “If Christ had not been raised then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14).
He also says, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile” (1 Cor. 15:17).The Christian faith stands or falls with the truth or falsity of the claim of Easter. If Jesus did not really rise from the dead, then the Christian faith and religion is sheer humbuggery.
Christians are deluding themselves; they are also misleading others. Paul goes on to say that “if Christ has not been raised,‘you are still in your sins’”(v.17).Christians believe that human beings are sinners and sinful.Obviously, there are naysayers about this Christian belief. But this is a belief that is remarkably consistent with the reality of our individual hearts within and our collective world without. The startling belief of Christianity, however, is also that God offers us forgiveness. Like a benevolent benefactor, who rescues a helplessly indebted person from his financial and legal woes by paying his debts on his behalf, Jesus pays the price of our sins and guilt through the gift of his own life.And his resurrection from the dead is akin to a court certifying the payment and receipt of the debt owed. If Christ had not been raised, then that would only mean that God had deemed his sacrificial death illegitimate and unacceptable before the divine court. In other words, the debt of our sins owed before God remains unpaid and we would remain unforgiving. This is the second stake of Easter — forgiveness. To be a true Christian (not just a nominal one) is about simply, humbly, and gratefully accepting the payment made by Jesus on behalf of humanity when he died on the first Good Friday. One is,of course,perfectly within one’s rights to refuse the payment. But that would be neither safe nor sensible.
It would be like the helpless debtor refusing the gift of the benefactor. Besides faith and forgiveness, the third stake in Easter is the future. Paul says that if Christ had not been raised from the dead, “then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished” (1 Cor.15:18), adding that “if in Christ we have hope in this life only; we are of all people most to be pitied” (v.19).In the Bible,the term usually used for the death of a follower of Christ — ‘sleep’.This is because followers of Jesus believe that death is not the permanent end. There is still a future beyond the grave,because of the resurrection of Christ and like the resurrected Christ, Christians believe that they will rise again.The ultimate hope of the Christian faith is neither annihilation nor reincarnation; it is resurrection. To be a believer in Christ is to hitch your wagon, not so much to a star, but to the risen son of Easter morning.
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