Good Friday, also known as "Holy
Friday," is the Friday immediately preceding Easter Sunday. It is
celebrated traditionally as the day on which Jesus was crucified. Assuming that
Jesus was crucified and died on a Friday, should Christians remember Jesus'
death by celebrating Good Friday?
The Bible does not
explicitly state on which day of the week Jesus was crucified. The two most
widely held views are Friday and Wednesday. Some, however, using a synthesis of
both the Friday and Wednesday arguments, argue for Thursday as the day.
However, in the grand scheme
of things, it is not all that important to know what day of the week Christ was
crucified. If it were very important, then God's Word would have clearly communicated
the day and timeframe. What is important is that He did die and that He
physically, bodily rose from the dead. What is equally important is the reason
He died—to take the punishment that all sinners deserve. John 3:16 and 3:36
both proclaim that putting your trust in Him results in eternal life! This is
equally true whether He was crucified on a Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.
The Bible does not instruct Christians to remember Christ’s death by
honoring a certain day. The Bible does give us freedom in these matters,
however. Romans 14:5 tells us, “One man considers one day more sacred than
another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully
convinced in his own mind.” Rather than remembering Christ's death on a certain
day, once a year, the Bible instructs us to remember Christ’s death by
observing the Lord’s Supper. First Corinthians 11:24-26 declares, “...do this
in remembrance of me...for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you
proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”Why is Good Friday referred to as “good”? What the Jewish authorities and Romans did to Jesus was definitely not good (see Matthew chapters 26-27). However, the results of Christ’s death are very good! Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” First Peter 3:18 tells us, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”
Many Christian churches celebrate Good Friday with a subdued service, usually in the evening, in which Christ’s death is remembered with solemn hymns, prayers of thanksgiving, a message centered on Christ suffering for our sakes, and observance of the Lord's Supper. Whether or not Christians choose to “celebrate” Good Friday, the events of that day should be ever on our minds because the death of Christ on the cross is the paramount event of the Christian faith.
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