Good Friday: A day of fasting and prayer
GOOD Friday is a day of mourning for Christians all over the world. It usually falls between 20 March and 23 April.
The day is called ‘Good’ because it is believed that Jesus Christ on this Friday died on the cross for our sins.
Initially, it was called ‘God’s Friday’. In the Eastern Orthodox Churches, it is known as ‘Great Friday’.
Good Friday is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday, and Black Friday.
On this day, prayer services and meditation takes place at all churches. Good Friday is observed as a day of fasting, mourning, sorrow and prayer by the entire Christian community.
It was on a Friday that Jesus was beaten and nailed to the cross by the Roman soldiers because they found His teachings too hard to understand.
However, just two days after His death, Easter is celebrated to express our happiness and joy on His resurrection.
This day is of utmost importance to Christians, as they believe that all those who are united with Jesus Christ by faith will be resurrected in the future.
According to the four Gospels — Matthew, John, Luke and Mark, Jesus carried His cross to the site of His execution called the ‘place of the skull’. There, He was crucified along with two criminals, one on the right and one on the left.
Jesus agonised on the cross for six hours. During the last three hours while He was hanging on the cross, darkness fell over the whole earth.
From the cross, Jesus spoke to His Heavenly Father, saying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
” Then with a loud cry, He gave up His Spirit. There was an earthquake, tombs broke open, and the curtain in the temple were torn apart from the top to the bottom.
Jesus could’ve saved Himself from death because He was God. But He did not do that because He wanted to fulfil the prophecy of Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah Chapter 53, verses 2 to 12) and the other Old Testament prophets that were foretold between about 1200 and 165 BC.
Jesus chose to die so that the prophecies of these Old Testament prophets (men of God) may be fulfilled.
Jesus was with His Father in heaven along with the Holy Spirit. The Heavenly Father sent Him down to the earth to be born in the womb of a village woman named Mariam.
The English name Mary for Mariam comes from the Greek word Ìáñßá, a shortened form of the name ÌáñéÜì.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Mumbai, India
