Tag: Good Friday

What is Good Friday?

Today is Good Friday. You’ve likely asked, “Why is Good Friday called Good Friday?” and “What is good about Good Friday?”

Some places refer to it as Black Friday. We’ve heard of Black Friday sales, but that’s not what it’s about. Some also refer to it as Holy or Sacred Friday, Great Friday, and Passion Friday. It’s all connected to this Easter weekend. Good Friday is a day of commemoration. Christians observe the death and sacrifice of God’s son on the cross. The third day after Jesus resurrected from death, comes Easter.

The word “Good” in Good Friday might have been a derivative of the Anglo-Saxon form which literally translates as God’s Friday (Ex.: Goodbye, a derivative of “God be with you”). Another reason was “good” was meant “holy” in medieval times.

Many people theorize about what is good about Good Friday. It’s good for us that Jesus died for our sins to free us from the consequences of death and give us new life (Romans 3:24-25).

Why on Friday? There probably isn’t any good reason. Given that three in the afternoon is when some think when Jesus died on the cross, the third day after his death comes Easter Sunday… or kind of the third day. Friday seems like a convenient day of the week. Why not? Easter used to fall on a Wednesday anyway.

Good/Holy Friday comes after the six weeks of Lent including Palm/Passion Sunday.

Historians say that Good Friday might have been practiced since the 7th century by Christians in Jerusalem (pre-sanctified Masses are referenced in the documents of the Quinisext Council, 692 AD).

The Way of the Cross is practiced whereby fourteen stations of the cross are preset at various locations. This is merely symbolic of what Jesus would have experienced on his way to the cross. Each location provides a place for the worshipers to pray in commemoration of the events that happened.

Have a good Good Friday this day, and an expectant Easter soon to come!


Jesus fulfills prophecy eight centuries after Isaiah

After 1261. Pinacoteca Civica, San Gimignano.

Back in the day, capital punishment by crucifixion was actually a common method.  Roman society saw this as justice for committing capital crimes.  Today, it might a simple lethal injection, or the electric chair.  Many criminals worthy of punishment died on the Road to Delarosa.  Along this road were numerous crosses and on them hung crucified criminals.  It was a way to deter criminals from committing capital crimes such as murder and treason against the Roman Empire.

From Spartacus

What makes Jesus’ crucifixion special was that he overcame death by rising from death the third day after he died. His resurrection from death was a miracle that was unseen in the history of humankind. His resurrection from death means that our sins, and our eternal death, have been also defeated.

Isaiah 53:5-6, 11-12, is from the passage on the suffering servant. For the Jewish faithful, it speaks of Isaiah as the suffering servant; but for us as Christian believers, Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy.  He is our holy and anointed Messiah who came to save us from our sin.  It was prophesied eight centuries before Jesus was born.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all….

After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Isaiah said of God’s servant that he bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors. When Jesus came eight centuries later, he came to carry our sins to his unjust death on a cross.  The resurrection fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy of God’s righteous servant who justifies many people.  Our faith in this miraculous resurrection is why we are cleansed of our sins and transgressions.

The new hope and promise for all humankind is that whoever will place their trust in Jesus and in his resurrection, will also receive God’s blessing of being made right with God.  Our sins, evil and death in the eternal realm has been defeated.