Why is the Friday before Easter called Good Friday? And what exactly does it mean?
It means that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, willingly chose to die on a cross for all of the sins by mankind, even though he was blameless and without sin Himself. Why? Because He loved us and He didn't want to see us go to hell or endure a life of suffering; so He took it upon Himself to die in our place.
For weeks and days leading up to the crucifixion, Jesus was publicly humiliated, spit on, kicked, beaten, and mocked; yet He was determined to carry out His Father's business. He wanted to save the world from sin and corruption and He wasn't about to back down from the task at hand.
God knew what He was doing, and He already knew that this was going to happen. Even though it grieved Him terribly, He knew that this was part of His plan in order to give the world hope and a way out. For two days later, a an even bigger, more important Event was to take place, but first, Jesus had to die in order to set things into motion.
The day of the crucifixion came. People wept and mourned, yet others laughed, jeered, and mocked Jesus without care or provocation. Jesus didn't care; all He had on His mind was His upcoming death on a tree. It would be ghastly. It would be horrendous. It would be the wost case of suffering ever known. For He, Jesus, was to take the weight of the world on His shoulders and die for all the iniquities of mankind. He would take full responsibility and literally take life into His own hands by taking our place. For it could have been US who hung on a cross for our sins, but Jesus chose to take our burdens and do it FOR us.
Jesus soon was hung upon the cross. Nails were hammered into His wrists and feet. For hours He labored to breathe and stay on the cross, fighting death with everything He had. He was sweating copiously; the sweat soon turned to blood, and He cried out in agony as He was unmercifully whipped and even stabbed (on the side); the cheers, jeers, and mocking grew louder, as did the wailing of those, His followers and friends, who did not want to see this happen to Him.
Soon, it became too much for Him to bear. Jesus knew that the end was near. He looked up to the Heavens and cried out, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they do." He then cried, "Father, why have You forsaken me?" He then said, "It is finished", gave up His spirit, and died.
As soon as Jesus breathed His last, the sky rent apart; lightning split the sky, and thunder, the loudest thunder in the world, blasted the air. The ground shook as earthquakes struck; the sky turned black as night. Even the sun, moon, and stars ceased shining.
It was the darkest day in history.
But it would end up being the turning point in our world, for Jesus' passing would mean salvation to those who called upon His name and hope for the hopeless and broken. For two days later, Jesus would rise from the dead, resurrected back to life, to dwell, forever more, in Heaven, next to His Heavenly Father, and all the angels. He had successfully carried out His mission: He had been born only to die and then rise again, as a way of hope for those who were burdened by sin and life's trials.
That is why we celebrate Good Friday. Although it seemed to be very bad, it was also good for those who believed in Him or for those who were looking for a way out of sin because if they called upon Him, Jesus Christ, He would forgive them of their sins and dwell in people's hearts and lives forever and ever.
Happy Good Friday, all! May we reflect to think about WHY we celebrate it and give thanks to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, Jesus, for dying so that we could live!
