Good Friday is when Christians throughout the world commemorate the agonizing and tortuous death of the Lord Jesus Christ; followed by his Resurrection on the third day, commonly known as Easter. It is not uncommon for those unfamiliar with these events to call up their Christian friends and excitedly wish them a Happy Good Friday!
Christians, in turn, are at pains to explain that it is not quite like wishing one a “Merry Christmas”. Pat comes the question; that if this is a sorrowful occasion then why is it called “Good”? Most Christians don’t have a plausible explanation. The previous day is called “Holy Thursday” and the next day is called “Holy Saturday”, then how did a “Good Friday” get sandwiched in between? Strictly speaking it should be called “Holy Friday”. In Hindi it has the correct name of “Punya Shukravar”. So how did the “good” prefix come?
In the liturgy (official prayers) of the Catholic Church, on this day, the phrase “Felix Culpa” is used. It is Latin for Happy Fault, and refers to the original sin of the first parents, Adam and Eve. The complete sentence is “Oh happy fault that wrought us such a saviour”. The implication is that had there been no sin, then there would have been no need of salvation, and a Saviour like Jesus Christ. One may therefore surmise that this happy fault was perceived as bringing about good. Hence the name – Good Friday. As the old saying goes “God writes straight with crooked lines”.
By whatever name we may call it, Good Friday is one of those days in the year when many Christians, who are generally indifferent to the faith, nevertheless feel the need to go to a church and pray. Something deep in the heart, of even the most hardened, seems to say, “This man died for me. The least I can do is to pay homage to him this day”.
On the other hand there are millions of people all over the world, including in India, who may not believe in the salvific work of Jesus, yet find him a great human being, worthy of emulation. What message does Good Friday have for them?
Perhaps the greatest message is that of forgiveness. Scholars and physicians who have studied the Roman’s form of execution by crucifixion say that it is one of the most excruciating forms of slow death. The condemned person keeps pushing his feet up to free his constricted lungs, but he ultimately dies of asphyxiation; that is if he has not already been torn to pieces by birds of prey or wild animals. Jesus could not survive more than three hours on the cross because he had already been tortured, and was emotionally and spiritually drained. Yet in the midst of such agony he musters up the strength to say, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do”.
Imagine what this world would have been had Jesus, from the cross, exhorted his disciples to avenge his death? It is this forgiveness, in the midst of excruciating pain, that Gladys Staines expressed when her husband Rev Graham Staines, and their two little children, were torched to death by religious zealots. It is this same forgiveness that the late Pope John Paul II extended when he went to visit his would be Turkish assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca, in an Italian prison.
No so long ago Priyanka Gandhi had also gone to visit the assassins of her father Rajive. We do not know what transpired; but somewhere, the long shadow of the cross of Calvary must have been looming.
Whether or not we believe that Jesus Christ is the saviour of mankind is not my point. What cannot be brushed aside is the need for forgiveness in a strife torn and hate filled world. This Good Friday I will again say “Felix Culpa”, Oh Happy Fault!
March 2016
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