Good Friday is one of the oldest holidays on the Church calendar. Some historians believe that believers began observing this sacred holiday during the first century. Different denominations and cultures observe this sacred day through different means. Today, it’s common for churches to have special services on Good Friday during which they take part in communion, observing the brokenness of Christ’s body and the pouring out of His blood through the sacraments. Other groups use Good Friday as a time for fasting and personal reflection as we prepare to observe Resurrection Sunday.
Regardless of where you live or the type of church that you attend, you can, and should observe Good Friday on your own. While there’s nothing in the Bible that mandates that local churches have Good Friday celebrations, this sacred day is an opportunity for believers to reflect on the sacrifice of Christ and how His death provides us with the opportunity to embrace eternal life.
The Events of Good Friday
John 18:28-29 (NIV)
Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
The events of Good Friday as recorded in Scripture begin in the early morning hours. On Thursday night, Christ had been dragged from one societal leader to the next, bouncing between the homes of Caiaphas (who was the high priest) and his father-in-law, Annas. When they were done with Him, they sent Him on to Pilate.
In John 18:28-40, Jesus and Pilate have a profound conversation about Christ’s claims, His Kingdom, and how Pilate should respond to the cries of the crowd for Him to be crucified. Pilate mustered up the courage to go outside to address the rioting crowd, telling them that he could find no reason to crucify Christ.
With that in mind, Pilate went out to face the rioting crowd. Tradition dictated that one prisoner be released in observance of Passover. Pilate assumed that when he told the crowd that Christ was an innocent man, they would choose him. Instead, they chose a man named Barabbas, a man who had led violent insurrections against the government.
It’s easy to skip over this moment in the story of Christ’s resurrection, as we had never seen Barabbas before the trial, nor did we ever see him after. However, this moment in the Good Friday story is symbolic of our own role in the salvation story.
Even if we never led violent insurrections like Barabbas, we were deserving of death for our sins. This doesn’t refer to a physical death like the kind we will all one day face. Instead, it refers to an eternal separation from God. In the same way that Christ took the place of Barabbas, ending up on the cross that was meant for him, He took our place. He suffered the separation from God that we should have faced. When we see Barabbas in this story, we see ourselves.
John 19:11 (NIV)
Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
Pilate continued to try to negotiate with the crowd who, by this point, had reached a full frenzy. They wanted Christ to be crucified, and nothing that the Roman governor said to them was going to assuage the tensions.
In the verses just before this one, Pilate went back into his palace to speak to Jesus privately. He asked Christ questions, believing that he could work out some other option. However, Jesus refused to answer the questions because He knew that this was exactly the way that God planned on things going. Pilate, growing irritated, told Jesus that he had the power to set Him free or have Him killed.
In that moment, Christ pointed out that Pilate would have no power if God the Father hadn’t given it to him. God had set up the people who needed to be in power to carry out the divine plan for salvation long before any of them ever questioned Jesus.
This speaks to the sovereignty of God. Our God is in control of every situation, and He puts things into motion long before we recognize that He is working. The Father had Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate all in the positions of authority that they held in order to carry out His plan for salvation.
John 19:24 (NIV)
“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.”
Psalm 22, which is where you can find the prophecy about Christ’s garment being taken from Him so the soldiers could cast lots to see who won it, was written roughly 1,000 years before the birth of Christ. A full millennium passed before this prophecy was fulfilled.
This passage is another example of God’s attention to the details. In order for Jesus to truly be the Messiah, He had to fulfill every Old Testament prophecy that was written. While the soldiers didn’t believe in Christ, God used them to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament.
Matthew 27:45-46 (NIV)
From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
Since Christ had taken on the sins of all of humanity, God could not even look at Him. God’s holiness prevents Him from looking upon sin. As Paul wrote, “He who had never sinned became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
In that moment, God, the Source of Light, had no choice but to turn His back on His Son. This led to the darkest day in human history in more ways than one. Christ was dead. The Messiah had taken His last breath. But God the Father was still working.
Matthew 27:51 (NIV)
At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split.
The veil in the temple was there to separate the “common” person from the presence of God. The only person who was allowed behind the veil was the high priest, who could only step into that area at certain times.
When Christ took His last breath, the earth began to shake. We find out in the following verses that many holy people who had died were resurrected, as death was no match for Christ. However, the veil being torn was perhaps the most important event that occurred as a result of His death.
When the veil was torn, humanity was no longer separated from the divine. From that moment on, every human who would ever walk the face of this planet had the opportunity to interact directly with God. Today, we have access to God because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
That fact makes Good Friday both the darkest day and the brightest day in the history of the world. Things were certainly not good on Good Friday. God had turned His back on His Son, and the Messiah was dead. However, those events allowed us to have access to God on this side of eternity, and the promise of eternal life when this life is over.
A Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank You for the events of Good Friday. Thank You for the fact that You were in complete control when it looked like everything was falling apart, and for the fact that You are still in control. Thank You for granting me access and eternal life. In Christ’s name, Amen.