Good Friday

good friday


Good Friday is the Friday before Easter. It commemorates the execution of Jesus by crucifixion.

Good Friday is a day of mourning in church. During special Good Friday services Christians meditate on Jesus’s suffering and death on the cross, and what this means for their faith.

In some countries, there are special Good Friday processions, or re-enactments of the Crucifixion.

The main service on Good Friday takes place between midday and 3pm. In many churches it takes the form of a meditation based on the seven last words of Jesus on the cross, with hymns, prayers, and short sermons.

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.

I’ve read that the word good used to have a secondary meaning of holy, but I can’t trace that back in my etymological dictionary. There are a number of cases in set phrases where the words God and good got switched around because of their similarity. One case was the phrase God be with you, which today is just good-bye. So perhaps Good Friday was originally God’s Friday. But I think we call it Good Friday because, in pious retrospect, all that tragedy brought about the greatest good there could be.

I can see virtue in either terminology. If we call it Mourning Friday, as in German, we are facing reality head on, taking up the cross if you will, fully conscious that the Christian walk is seldom a walk in the park. But if we call it Good Friday, as in English, we are confessing the Christian hope that no tragedy—not even death—can overwhelm God’s providence, love, and grace. Either way seems fine to me!

Today at church I watched “The Passion of the Christ” for the second time. The film still remains in my heart and no matter how many times I watched the movie, the film still broke my heart.

I cried. I feel terrible.

It is really evil, to walk away from Jesus, when He are persecuted and tortured so bad, just to save our lives and washed away our sins.

Love you, dear God!

8 Replies to “Good Friday”

  1. what a nice green blog =) ah..iya,kmrn jumat agung..hihihi…bentar lg cari2 telor d di rumah omaku sama anak2 piyik =) nice to know u ra..

  2. Buat suku Latin, Kontinental Eropa, semuanya menyebut “Holy Friday”

    Vendredi Saint = France
    Venerdi Santo = Italia

    Dan negara latin lainnya setali tiga uang.

    Entah knp begitu menyebrang selat Chunnel, jadi Jumat Baik, Good Friday.

    ^^

  3. Kemarin saya menjelaskan ke David kalo dalam bahasa Indonesia, Good Friday disebut “Jumat Agung”. So, if it translated directly to English it’s supposed to be “Great Friday”. Trus, saya tanya… kalo “Paskah” knapa dalam English disebut “Easter”? Dia bilang: “Well, you should ask the British why they called it “easter” at the first place”. Heh. Akhirnya sama-sama buka wikipedia.org (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter) yang ternyata kata itu erat kaitannya dengan tradisi pagan dalam menghormati Dewi Kesuburan Eostre… Makanya waktu lihat ornamen/hiasan kelinci (easter bunny) dan ayam/telur waktu ke restoran tidak heran lagi, karena dalam tradisi pagan, kelinci dan ayam melambangkan kesuburan atau kelahiran kembali.

    Anyway, Happy Paskah, Rara!

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