The Easter Story: Good Friday

Good Friday

Good Friday is a very solemn day for Christians. It is the day on which we remember and commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Good Friday is a day of penance which is observed through abstinence and fasting.

Early on Friday morning the chief priests, who were very jealous of Jesus and of His popularity with the people, decided that Jesus must die. They took Jesus to Pontius Pilate who was the governor because they wanted Pontius Pilate to give the order to have Jesus put to death. Pilate went outside and asked them “What has this man done?” The high priests said that Jesus was calling Himself the King of the Jews. Pilate asked Jesus if this was true.  Jesus answered that it was the high priests who were saying this about Him. Jesus said that His kingdom was not of this world. Pontius Pilate went back to the high priests and told them that he could not find Jesus guilty of any great crime. To satisfy the high priests, who were very powerful men, Pilate said that he had ordered his soldiers to have Jesus whipped and then released.

The soldiers took Jesus and flogged him. They made fun of Him, mocking Him and calling Him names. They spat in His face. They dressed Him in a purple robe and made a crown from thorns which they pressed into His head. Then they sneered at him calling out “Hail King of the Jews”. Then they brought Jesus to Pontius Pilot again.

Pontius Pilate’s wife had had a dream about Jesus and she told her husband that He should be released because He was a good man.  Pilate also believed that Jesus had not committed any crime and that He should be released. However, the high priests insisted that Jesus was an evil man, who was claiming to be the true leader of the Jews. Even though Pilate had an important job, he was a weak man who was afraid of the high priests and their power over the people. He wanted to be popular.

There was a tradition, that at the time of Passover the governor could release one prisoner. Pilate thought that this would be a way to release Jesus so he asked the crowd “Do you want me to release Jesus?” He believed that these large crowds who had welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem only five days earlier would want to have Him released. But the crowds listened to the loud voices of the chief priests’, who convinced them that they should ask for Barabbas to be released instead of Jesus. Barabbas was a dangerous man who was in prison because he had committed terrible crimes! And Pilate asked the crowds again “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out “Crucify Him, Crucify Him”. Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has He done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, who was afraid of the mob and wanted to satisfy them, released Barabbas. Pontius Pilate, the governor, handed Jesus over to the high priests and the crowds, saying that he didn’t find Him guilty but that they could do what they wanted with Him!

The crowds dragged Jesus away. They mocked Him and whipped Him. They made him carry His very heavy cross up the Hill of Calvary. At three o’ clock on Friday, after many hours of suffering, they crucified Jesus. He shouted out “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Two robbers were also crucified with Jesus, one on His right and one on His left. One of these men mocked Jesus and said “If You are the Son of God why don’t You save Yourself and us?” But the other said, “Jesus, remember me when You go to Your father in heaven”. Jesus said to this robber “Today you will be with me in Paradise”.

The chief priests and those who passed by  Jesus on the Cross made fun of Him wagging their heads and saying, “ Aha if You are the Son of God, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!”. “He saved others but He cannot save Himself”.

The Death of Jesus

At about six o’ clock a black darkness came over the whole land. The sun’s light failed and the great temple of Jerusalem was torn in two. Then Jesus, called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this He took His last breath and died. 

When the Roman soldier who was standing guard at the cross saw what had happened,  he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” All the crowds that had come to watch these events returned to their homes in shock and awe. All his special women friends and family, as well as His disciples, who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching these things.

Jesus is Buried

In the evening a rich man from a place called Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a follower of Jesus, went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate ordered it to be given to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and put Jesus’ body in his own new tomb. He rolled a great rock in front of the door. Because the Sabbath for Jewish people lasts from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday, Joseph, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses, who had come with him to the tomb, returned home and prepared spices and ointments to put on Jesus’ body as was the tradition in those days. On the Sabbath they rested, because this was the rule of their religion. They planned to come back to the tomb after sundown on Saturday, when the Sabbath was finished. Then they would clean Jesus’s body and prepare it with the spices and ointments.

Guards were placed in front of the tomb to make sure that the body of Jesus would not be stolen.