Whether you grew up going to a Good Friday service or have never heard of it, most of us have asked ourselves: What is Good Friday, and why is it called “good”? At its core, Good Friday is the Friday before Easter Sunday — a holy day to remember Jesus' death on the Cross at Calvary, but there's so much more weight to this day when you really think about it.
There is no “Good News” without Good Friday. The heart of the gospel is that Jesus Christ came, lived a humble life, gave his life willfully on the Cross, died, and resurrected to give us new life. What could have been a sorrowful Friday can now be called a “good” and Holy Friday because we have been given salvation, freedom, and best of all, the invitation to draw near to God Himself.
After the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday, Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Falsely accused of blasphemy and inciting rebellion, Jesus was taken away to a trial before the Sanhedrin. Here, Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea, saw that Jesus was innocent, but the crowds insisted that Jesus was guilty. Because of this, Pontius Pilate instead released another criminal named Barrabas, and ultimately condemned Jesus to crucifixion.
Taken with two other criminals, Jesus was then nailed to the Cross, with a crown of thorns on His head. He was mocked, bruised, and beaten. Yet in the midst of all this, Jesus looked at the people who fervently yelled “Crucify him!” and responded with “'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'”
Then at three in the afternoon, Jesus yielded His spirit, and gave His life for us.
Jesus’ death on the Cross was brutal and a time of grief for His disciples and followers. Crucifixion was the harshest of sentences under Roman rule. Crucifixion was a death reserved for the worst of criminals. So, why do we describe that as “good”?
Jesus going to the Cross and yielding to His Father’s will was an instrumental part in God’s redemptive plan for humanity. Through His agonizing death on the Cross, Jesus made it possible for us to be one with God again. Jesus took on the weight of our sin and paid for it with His blameless blood. It was the ultimate sacrifice, an outstanding declaration of love, and a pivotal moment in history.
The Cross is a bold invitation to have a close relationship with God, just like He always intended, for eternity. Ephesians 2:13 says: "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ."
This means that no matter what you're carrying, who you are, or what your past says about you, it is the blood of Jesus Christ that invites you in. There is no striving or any effort that could give us what Jesus gave on that Cross.
As Christians, we celebrate Good Friday because Christ's sacrifice made it possible for us to receive the gift of eternal life. He died, so that we might live. Jesus’ death is a poignant example of how God can take something evil and turn it for our good.
On Good Friday, we remember the incredible redemption bought for us by Jesus’ death on the Cross. We also sit in the reality that our God is a good, life-bringing God who has only good things planned for us.
Jesus’ death and resurrection are described by His disciples in the New Testament, but can also be found in prophecies in the Old Testament. There’s a detailed passage in Isaiah that prophesies the death of Christ. Isaiah writes about how our Saviour's death will enable our reconciliation with God.
“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.
Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. 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.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away. Yet who of His generation protested? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, though He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.”
As we prepare our hearts for Holy Week and celebrate Easter, it's important to take the time to sit, reflect, and give thanks to God for the gift of the Cross. So much more than a religious holiday or Christian tradition, the time between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday is a time to sit in the weight of Jesus' sacrifice and victory. Maybe this looks like going to a Good Friday service, fasting, listening to worship music, or going to an Easter Sunday church service. No matter how you spend it, our prayer is that you would lock eyes with Jesus in a personal way.
Because of Jesus' deep love, given without reservation, we can have holy communion with God, day in and day out. We can live free from sin and darkness, and we can stand in the truth that we are born again in Christ Jesus. This is the foundation of the Christian faith.
As Holy Week approaches, we want to invite you to reflect on the following accounts of Jesus' death on the Cross. Although they are all different portrayals, together they paint a powerful picture of what Jesus sacrificed in order to save us.
Whether you choose to join us on the Glorify app for our Holy Week devotionals or choose to read the following passages during your prayer time, we pray that it will all revive your faith in a fresh way. While we reflect on the weight of Jesus' death, we also celebrate the victory of Jesus' resurrection.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, He went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to Him.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Download Glorify Today
