The Hindu : Significance of Good Friday

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 18, 2003

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - Religion

Significance of Good Friday

CHENNAI APRIL 18. Why do followers of Jesus call the day on which he died as "Good Friday"? The excruciatingly painful death on a wooden cross seems to symbolise despair and suffering instead. Would it not be appropriate to mourn the death of Jesus? To do so would be a travesty of Jesus' exceptional life and universal message.

Jesus' first century fellow-Jews longed for deliverance from the oppressive Roman rule. Instead of taking political sides, Jesus pointed out to the people that while external forces and factors often trouble us, the root cause of misery and sorrow lay within each of us. In claiming autonomy from our Creator, we have ended up becoming disconnected within ourselves and with each other.

In any broken relationship, reconciliation is a possibility. If both parties are in the wrong, a compromise is required to set the relationship right. If only one party has erred, it takes the offended party to make a sacrifice so that the relationship can be restored. The person who is offended pays the cost of the reconciliation. Jesus pointed out that God's sense of justice has been offended by our wilful wrong actions. However, God's loving concern causes him to initiate reconciliation.

God became a human being so that he could pay the price for our sins undergoing a cruel death. The need for sacrifice for human sins is acknowledged in most of the world's oldest religions. Human beings will be eternally separated from God unless there is a substitute. Jesus was God's perfect sinless substitute who bore the punishment on behalf of the sinful human race. Through his voluntary sacrifice, Jesus has become the bridge by which we can cross over to God and be with him forever.

Jesus did not remain dead. He had told his disciples, "I have the authority to lay down my life and take it back again." On the third day and for about 40 days, his disciples reported seeing him alive and interacting with him. If Jesus had remained in the grave, he would have gone the way of all human kind. His unique physical resurrection from the dead reminds us that he is indeed the Eternal One whom death cannot conquer. Is it surprising then that the day on which Jesus' death is remembered is referred to as "Good Friday"?

Ajoy Varghese,
Chennai

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