What is Good Friday?

Few of the world's religions or nations paradoxically celebrate the death of its founder or of a key leader. Americans, for instance, may sadly commemorate the days when Abraham Lincoln or John F. Kennedy were assassinated, but those days are not called "good" or endowed with positive significance. Only Christians are able to look at their Savior's death and find cause to celebrate because of the theological conclusion that the only way for God to heal the breach caused by evil's arrival in God's good creation was to have the Son of God suffer the ultimate consequence of sin: death itself. Further, as an accursed way to die, the crucifixion makes clear that all the iniquity and evil of history was being brought down upon Jesus, who took the place of all humanity in paying the price for a world gone bad. By raising the Son back to life again three days later, God the Father put God's stamp of approval on this method of saving the world and validated that this particular death indeed leads to new life—indeed, to life everlasting.

The scene on Golgotha tells us how fearful a thing atonement is, even for the Son of God. All of Jesus's securities had been stripped away, including his clothing and the loyalty of his friends. The gospels tell us that priests had plotted against him, that Judas had betrayed him, that three disciples fell asleep on him, that witnesses lied about him, and that Peter denied him. Each event was a stake in his heart long before the Romans drove nails through his hands and feet. Mark tells us that Pilate flogged him and that soldiers mocked him. And when the soldiers got tired of kneeling in front of Jesus and then belting him in the face, they led him out to crucify him. All these attacks, all these degradations assaulted Jesus till finally he was led to the cross. Where degradation is concerned, crucifixion is just a way of finishing it off.

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Son of God, climaxes Holy Week not just because in the mystery of God's providence Jesus was making atonement "for us," "for many," "for all," but because his death not only horrifies, but also comforts. It horrifies because the death of God's Son looks like the end of the world. But it comforts because we see in this grotesque event that God does not hold himself aloof from human suffering but enters into the worst of it himself, thus proving that he may be trusted. Many suffering Christians have clung to the cross of Jesus Christ because they have trusted the person impaled on it.

Mark's gospel tells us that Jesus suffered through the darkness from noon till three. This darkness has a primeval feel, a feel of un-creation, as if the earth were collapsing back into chaos. On earth's first day, in a spectacular burst of power and love, God had said, "Let there be light." God's creation is so full of light that at its dawn the stars sing together and all the children of God shout for joy. God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. But on Friday from noon till three, there's no light on Golgotha. It's as if God turns his face away. It's as if God can't bear to watch the madness on Golgotha, and so God hides from it. Indeed, Mark's gospel tells has that after Jesus suffered through the darkness, he "cried out with a loud voice," using the first words of Psalm 22: "Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani! [My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?]"

None of the four gospels actually contains seven final words from Jesus. Matthew and Mark each contain just one saying (the cry of dereliction "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). Luke has Jesus speaking three times (asking for forgiveness for his tormenters, assuring the one thief he would join Jesus in paradise, and commending his spirit to the Father). John also contains three sayings (commending his mother to the care of a disciple, indicating thirst, and the climactic "It is finished"). Critical scholars often flag these variations as discrepancies that undercut the reliability of the four gospels. Others claim such variation bears the hallmarks of eyewitness accounts from multiple vantage points and see no reason to doubt Jesus spoke all seven sayings at various moments during his crucifixion.

There is always the temptation liturgically or homiletically on Good Friday to make the service a kind of anticipatory pre-Easter celebration of life and light after all. Perhaps we fear that too much somber reflection is a downer or a turnoff to some worshipers. Perhaps we think worship services always need to be on some level upbeat and joyful. Probably these are tendencies to resist on Good Friday. It is well to let the gravity of Christ's suffering and sacrifice sink into our souls as followers of Jesus. Yes, as the saying goes, "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!" But the joy on Sunday will be greater and deeper—if we let the sorrow of remembering Christ's agony on Friday be as real as possible. The goal is not to foster sadness for the sake of sadness but to generate awe and wonder about how Christ accomplished all salvation.

How do I plan a Good Friday worship service?

There are many narratives or directions that a Good Friday worship service could take. A few possibilities are:

• dramatically narrating the events surrounding Jesus' death
• following the structure of the seven last words of Christ
• taking the shape of a Tenebrae service of deepening shadows with a candle that darkens the worship space
• setting up a service that follows the stations of the cross, marking the Via Dolorosa or way of sorrows on the way to Golgotha.
• setting up a simple, quiet space and inviting worshipers to leave in darkness and silence
• marking the day with the celebration of the Lord's Supper, perhaps with a focus on how the supper proclaims "the Lord's death until he comes"
• not marking the day with communion, especially for those that celebrate frequently

Yet no matter how the service is constructed, Good Friday worshipers gather in profound wonder and gratitude not only to reflect on their suffering Savior, but also to rejoice in the purposes of God, who wills to redeem his children, and to offer profound gratitude for God's greatest gift.

When is Good Friday?

Good Friday occus the Friday before Easter.

What colors may be used for Good Friday?

Black, representing death and the darkness that fell over the land, is a color that may be used for Good Friday.

What themes may be used for Good Friday?

• darkness and cries for salvation 
• atonement
• the suffering servant 
• sacrificial love 
• salvation in Christ, by grace

What else can Good Friday be called?

By using the word "good" in the title for this day, there is an implied paradox. Jesus died, which is bad, but yet it is good, because of what Jesus' death and resurrection mean for the world: it fulfilled the plan of redemption for the entire world.

Other languages use words that translate to "Holy," "Long," "High," or "Great" Friday, all leaning into different parts of the narrative of hte day. In German, this day is caleld "Karfreitag," meaning "bewail" or "grieve."

Worship service ideas for Good Friday

"When Jesus breathed his last he gave the world a Pentecostal moment, he breathed forth his 'holy' spirit for the salvation and renewal of the world." Scripture Meditation or Sermon by Denis Geraghty from Torch

"Having a service that is funeral-like on Good Friday can hammer home to us in a very deep, visceral way that Jesus really died." Service Outline by Carol Penner in Leading in Worship

"Poor Jesus, they left Him up there until they thought he was dead and then stabbed him in the side just to make sure. This is a very sad story isn't it?" Children's Sermon or Lesson by Sermons 4 Kids 

"God of endings, God of darkness, God of the tomb, God of dark days and loss, be with us now as we wait with Jesus." Benediction or Blessing by Carol Penner in Together in Worship 

Bible passage ideas for Good Friday

Passion narratives

• Matthew 26:47–27:66
• Mark 14:43–15:47
• Luke 22:39–23:56
• John 18–19

Cries for salvation in the Psalms

• Psalm 22:1–18, Why have you forsaken me?
• Psalm 31, Into your hand I commit my spirit
• Psalm 43, Vindicate me, O God
• Psalm 49, God will ransom my soul
• Psalm 51, Do not cast me away
• Psalm 130, Out of the depths I cry
• Psalm 143, Save me, O Lord

The suffering servant

• Isaiah 50:4–9, the servant's humiliation
• Isaiah 52:13–53:12, the suffering servant
• Zechariah 12:10–13:9, mourning for God's pierced one
• 1 Peter 2:19–25, enduring like Christ
• 1 Peter 3:13–22, suffering like Christ
• Hebrews 12:1–3, run with perseverance like Christ

Hung on a tree

• Numbers 21:4–9, serpent raised up
• Deuteronomy 21:22–23, death on a tree
• John 3:13–21, the Son of Man is raised as the serpent
• Galatians 3:13, Christ became the curse for us

Sacrificial love

• Genesis 22:1–14, the binding of Isaac
• Lamentations 3, ceaseless love amid suffering
• John 10:14–18, the shepherd lays down his life
• 1 John 3:16; 4:7–21, God's love is revealed in Jesus
• Hebrews 4:14–5:10, Christ is both high priest and sacrifice

Salvation in Christ, by grace

• Genesis 3:14–15, the woman's offspring will crush the serpent's head
• Acts 13:16–41, God's salvation of Israel
• Romans 3:21–26, righteousness through faith
• Romans 8:1–17, set free in Christ
• 1 Corinthians 1:17–21, the power of the cross
• Galatians 3:1–14, redeemed from the curse
• Ephesians 2:13–22, reconciliation through the cross
• Philippians 2:5–11, obedience unto death
• Colossians 1:19–23, peace through the cross
• Colossians 2:13–15, trespasses nailed to the cross
• Hebrews 2:5–9, Jesus the representative human
• Hebrews 10:1–25, the body of Christ once for all
• 1 Peter 1:10–20, ransomed with the blood of Christ
• Revelation 5:6–14, the Lamb who was slain