What is Good Friday?

Good Friday is the Friday immediately preceding Easter Sunday. It is traditionally the day on which Jesus was crucified. 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).

Calling the day of the Crucifixion ‘Good’ Friday is a designation that is peculiar to the English language. In German, for example, it is called Karfreitag. The Kar part is an obsolete word, the ancestor of the English word care in the sense of cares and woes, and it meant mourning. So in German, it is Mourning Friday; and that is what the disciples did on that day—they mourned. They thought all was lost.

However, the result of Christ’s death is very good! Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 1 Peter 3:18, “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.”

The Bible does not instruct Christians to remember Christ’s death by honoring a certain day. It does give us freedom in these matters (see Romans 14:5). The Bible instructs us to remember Christ’s death by observing the Lord’s Supper. First Corinthians 11:26 declares, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. -Luke 23:44-49