Have you ever been in two minds about wishing someone a ‘Happy’ Good Friday? Have you been confused about how a day of suffering and pain can be remotely ‘good’? Here’s a little insight to what gives the day honouring the death of Jesus Christ a less morbid feel to it.
The day humanity was saved
Father Savio De Sales, Parish priest of Mount Carmel Church in Bandra, who is also doing his research in Theology, throws light on why Jesus’s death does have a silver lining to it. “To eradicate sin from the face of the earth, God sent several prophets to show people the right way of life. Inequality, marginalisation, cruelty towards the poor, have been major issues in society since time immemorial. Jesus Christ was sent among the Jews for the same. However, the Bible states how people in power (the Romans) then began to think of him as a threat and decided to crucify him. So, in a way, Jesus made the supreme sacrifice of taking on the sins of all the people and giving up his life to redeem them. He, therefore, saved humanity.”
A day for reflection
Although Good Friday is a day of mourning, it also calls for reflection of sins. Christians focus on forgiveness. Luke 23:34 of the Bible says that after being crucified Jesus uttered the words, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." The last call for forgiveness is in some way hope for his followers to start over on a new note. Hence, a reason to affirm their faith in Christ and hope for pardon on Judgement Day.
Paving way for Easter
All said and done, Good Friday is but a solemn affair. “Different countries have mixed approaches to celebrating the day. Some call it ‘Black Friday’, ‘Bad Friday’, ‘Holy Friday’ or even ‘Easter Friday’. It is the convergence of Jesus’s suffering and the hope for resurrection,” says Father De Sales.
So depending on how you look at it, Good Friday can be depressing but can also mean preparation to receive the joy of Easter. It is thereby, the hope for salvation that brings out the ‘better’ in Good Friday.
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 "Easter, Good Friday, Catholics, Roman Catholic Church, Jesus Christ")
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