Good Friday / Friday before Easter

Good Friday is also known as the Friday before Easter.

We commemorate this day as the day that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross as he bore all our sins, and gave us peace, salvation, and freedom over death.

He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows…he was pierced for our transgressions…crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth…he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken – Isaiah 53:4-8

Therefore, it is important that we must never forget that our God loves the world so much and we must be reminded of this even as, in his dying breath, Jesus forgave those crucifying soldiers - whose care for him extends only to mocking threats and the careful division of his clothes.

Two Good Friday Prayers

Lord,
by shedding his blood for us,
your Son, Jesus Christ,
established the paschal mystery.
In your goodness, make us holy
and watch over us always.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. 

Amen.

Lord,
by the suffering of Christ your Son
you have saved us all from the death
we inherited from sinful Adam.
By the law of nature
we have borne the likeness of his manhood.
May the sanctifying power of grace
help us to put on the likeness of our Lord in heaven
who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen.

The epistles of Paul are a rich source of biblical Good Friday material.

■ Romans 3:21-26 and Romans 5. These passages provide profitable insight on how the death of Christ results in the justification before God of all who believe.

■ 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. In this passage Paul presents the cross as either nonsense or the ultimate answer.

■ 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. This passage from the apostle Paul fairly begs to be preached on Good Friday. Explore what reconciliation means, how it was accomplished through Jesus Christ, and move on to talk about our responsibility in sharing the good news by being “ambassadors for Christ.”

■ Philippians 2:5-13. This passage deals with the humiliation and subsequent exaltation of Christ.

■ Colossians 1:15-23. The subject of these verses is the reconciliation to God of the created order—both the natural world and sinful human beings.

This day, this Friday, is indeed good. On it, our God demonstrated his love for the world and Christ borne our wretched sins. We who now bear his name would do well to treat our sin with similar gravity and the world with similar love. God Bless You.