Dear Internet Community,
We have gathered here more out of curiosity than anything else and perchanced upon this discourse. Good Friday is the day on which Christians commemorating the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary (or Golgatha) and it poses a question straight away: Why “Good” Friday? The Day is also called also known as Holy Friday, Black Friday or Great Friday and often coincides with the Jewish observance of Passover, which seems to be intended – but what is “good” about the crucifixion of Christ?
Maybe it is dependant upon what or who we conceive Christ to be, and if we consider him to be the Son of God, wholly God and wholly Man, this Friday and its events were what he came to do – hence his cry, “It is finished” marks his achieving his goal. Perhaps we consider this day a commemoration of our redemption through the substitutional character of his execution and resurrection and the atonement of sins. Abstractly, we could say that the sinful nature of mankind committed an act of utter iniquity which has the power to make us repent.
Why is this Friday a day of commemoration for me? It seems to me that the whole life of this mysterious figure from Nazareth has been exploited by numerous groups according to their agenda; even non-religious people have used his execution as a sign of oppression and the message of Easter a song of life that cannot be confined to the grave. I believe that we can’t separate Good Friday from Easter Sunday, the crucifixion from the resurrection, because there is a supremely important message there that the whole of humanity needs to hear. Why?
1. It is a message about the human dilemma
The song, “You always hurt the one you love …” contains an inkling of the truth of Good Friday. This seems to be one of the messages that emanates from the story of Jesus’ arrest and trial, his exposure and torture, and finally his final words and death. The shouting of the mob, scripturally laid at the feet of the Judeans (rather than the Jews), “Crucify, crucify”, appalled those people who had been touched by the uncanny wisdom this young, gentle and humble personality. Had he not taught at the Temple and drawn great crowds of people enthusiastic about his teaching and talk of his miracles? Why now, presented to the people as a possible choice for pardon, do they choose the zealot and murderer instead?
The human dilemma is that we always manage to turn the tables just when things were getting hopeful. No sooner than a ray of sun leaps across the heavens, we build up dark clouds of distress to cover it. No sooner than we are infatuated by the radiance of someone, our heart leaps into our mouths and we say something stupid. We have a history of persistently shattering hopes when they take on form in our midst, which leads us to believe that we have to work more, do more, love more, and care more, in order that these hopes can one day become reality. Hope seems to loose its appeal when it becomes reality.
This dramatic portrayal of ultimate iniquity tells us what people knew in their hearts then, and have proven since, namely that the call to God to break open the skies and step down, is an illusionary concept which we would just as effectively shatter, as we have in the past. The call to God to effectively install his realm on earth is contradicted by Jesus, who tells them and us, that this realm is already in their midst, just as God is in them. That isn’t the problem, just as the rich young man who asked him, “What good shall I do that I may have eternal life?” hadn’t recognised that this wasn’t his problem, but rather that to which we cling.
This is the human dilemma, and as long as we are gripped by our desires, we will continue to kill the one we love – even our redeemer.
2. The crucifixion lays down the basis for life
Jesus told the story of the seed that must die to bear a hundredfold fruit and pointed at his fate. Since then hundreds of thousands of martyrs have followed him – hopefully awake to the truth of his words. The Way of Christ is a path of humility and discretion, winding narrowly through life with an entrance that seems hard to find. It is an austere path of clear-headed deliberation and warm-hearted compassion, which needs to be free from the trappings of our society to be so. The more comforts we give ourselves or each other, the heavier the burdens we have to carry and the harder the Way becomes, so that many will fall aside, disillusioned and overwhelmed by their predicament. For this reason we are called to count the cost.
The shouting match between Jesus and Peter, when Peter has to hear, “Get thee behind me Satan!” blurted into his face, is a clear indication that Jesus was serious about his Way. All talk about the future is an illusion, we only have the present, and those desires we project into the future can only hold us back. “Can you go down the path I have to go?” Jesus asked the brothers James and John? Only when we live in the present like children can we enter the realm of God, all else is as hard as getting a camel through the eye of a needle. The crucifixion is the symbol of ultimately letting go and falling into the hands of God. It is the final act of faith.
Paul knew this and writes that in the face of Greek philosophers and Christian “knowers” he chose to know nothing more than Christ crucified. It is for him the focal point of Christian life and by all suffering involved, it is the final opportunity to test his faith. Now this may seem completely mad, and I’m sure that Paul enjoyed life, but his experience was that when men followed Christ on this path, and only then, did things changed for the better. That means that without this kind of devotion, everything is going to remain the same as it always was, but with it, their hopes can find fruition.
Therefore, it isn’t knowledge, it isn’t wealth, it isn’t sacrifice, which leads to life, but it is faith and devotion portrayed in the seed that is sown in the ground where it bursts and brings forth life. It isn’t more but less, what remains is faith, hope, and above all else love.
3. Good Friday is a starting point
I’m quite sure that the Disciples couldn’t see that their horror and grief were the beginning of anything. They saw it as the end. Their hopes were in the flesh and blood of their hero, but Jesus had already told them how erroneous that was – had they listened. He told them that it was good that he will leave, for then the comforter will come, that is the Spirit of awareness who will open their eyes to who they really are. Only then will they understand the things that Jesus had done for them, and realise what his example really meant. However these things actually happened, John’s Gospel is quite clear in his symbolism, if we “have ears to hear”!
Just as in the story of the prodigal son a turning point occurs when the son realises that he had more before he had money to pursue those things he saw as valuable to him, and that none of his friends or possessions brought him the happiness of being with his father, so too we are called to realise that the things and ideas we pursue will not bring happiness. The prodigal son’s life starts when he turns and goes home, which is a parallel to Adam returning to paradise, but he is wiser and is aware that by men’s standards he has no right to sonship. It is only when he is welcomed that he realises that by his Fathers standards he is a son and nothing changes that.
This is an example for the fact that we are all children of God, would we but know it. It is something integral to our existence, but which we have yet to realise. Would we realise this, we could experience the Grace of the early Christians as well as their feeling of setting out for home. Our estrangement must be overcome, everything else is provided for. Paul says that creation yearns for us to realise our salvation, which isn’t something which has to be achieved, but realised, for then we will intuitively understand what it really means to “fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over” it.
So, to recap: For me Good Friday
- Is a message about the human dilemma
- Lays down the basis for life
- And is a starting point for a better Now.
Shalom
Thanks Anthem, I know how hard it was for you to say that … 