Why Do We Call It Good Friday?

When we were kids, every year in the days leading up to Easter, my Dad would always ask the same question – year after year – “Why do they call it Good Friday?” It just didn’t make sense to him that the church would name the day on which Jesus is crucified Good Friday. Now, in actuality, the name Good Friday is not quite right. It didn’t start out as Good Friday. If we go back into old English, where this term originated, it was first of all God’s Friday, however, over the centuries it’s drifted from God’s Friday to Good Friday. But I’m not sure that makes any more sense than Good Friday. Why in the world would we call it God’s Friday? If there was ever a Friday that did not belong to God, surely it is the Friday when Jesus is crucified. Today is Good Friday, so this morning, I’d like to explore some alternative names for that day upon which Jesus is crucified.

Here’s one: Pilate’s Friday - let’s call this Pilate’s Friday! After all, Pilate’s the one who really has the authority to send Jesus off to be crucified. That cagey politician is really the one who makes the final decision. So every Friday before Easter, we would gather in the churches for Pilate’s Friday. And I wouldn’t care if it’s the Liberals or the Conservatives or the NDP who have the most seats in Ottawa, we would remember to be skeptical about political power. We would remember, politicians are often more concerned with popular support than with justice or integrity.

We could get together, and we’d say, “Remember Pilate? Remember the death warrant he signed in order to please the crowd.” On Pilate’s Friday, we would wonder what schemes are the politicians planning simply to win the most votes at the ballot box? Whose lives hang in the balance? What death warrants are our Pilate’s signing? Oh, it would be very good for the whole nation to have one Friday a year called Pilate’s Friday.

Or, here’s another possible name for it - Organized Religion Friday. After all, it’s the priests and the leaders of the Temple who are in collusion with the political authorities. It’s the religious – rigidly religious – the ones who know what the truth is, and will protect it at all cost. They’re the ones who work to see that Jesus will be killed, who set up a kangaroo court to try him.

Wouldn’t that be wonderful, for all of us clergy and lay leaders alike, to get together once a year and say to ourselves, “Watch out for organized religion. It can do you in. And we would recall how the religious leaders were in collusion with the government. We would remember how dangerous it is when organized religion gets into bed with political power in order to protect their vested interests. It would be very good for every religious leader to have at least one day a year to reflect upon the dangers of believing, “I have a corner on the truth. I alone know the truth.” Because sometimes in the history of religion, we have done terrible violence to protect our version of the truth and to preserve our power.

Or how about this? Maybe we ought to call it Military Power Friday, because who has the hammer and the nails? Who has the swords to make sure the sentence is carried out? The military! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all Christian people around the world, once a year, came to church on Military Power Friday to remember, “Those who live by the sword, will also die by the sword” – to remember, when we try to create peace by crushing and killing our enemies, oh, oh, we might be able to control things for a little while, but those whom we oppress and persecute will be waiting and watching for their moment to get back at us – to crush us as they have been crushed. And on Military Power Friday, we could remember how we load up young people with guns and bombs and order them out into the world to do horrendous things on our behalf – things that may well scar them for the rest of their lives - causing PTSD and making them victims of suicide. Wouldn’t it be good for us to have a day to remember all of that – Military Power Friday?

Or maybe we ought to call it Mob Friday. After all, it’s the mob who cries out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” On Mob Friday we would gather together and reflect on things like mob mentality. We would remember the bloodlust of the mob, the mindlessness of the mob. It might set public opinion polls in a new light. Which do we want in the world: mob rule or leadership rule with integrity?

Pilate’s Friday, Organized Religion Friday, Military Friday, Mob Friday …

Or maybe we just ought to call it what it really is - Death Friday. “Jesus breathed his last …” The hope and the promise, the compassion and the love of Jesus, is killed on that Friday. In the end it all belongs to death.

But now, I want us to think again. Those new names for Good Friday, do they really work, are they true? What if we go back over them and look at each one of those names - do they really fit?

You remember Pilate. His wife sent him a note, “Have nothing to do with this man. I had a dream about him …” You recall, Pilate even brings Jesus out before the crowds, “I find no fault in this man!” Is it really Pilate’s day, or is he just a puppet controlled by the crowds and the winds of political expediency? After he makes that decision, violating what he knows to be the truth, oh, Pilate may have still been alive physically, but Pontius Pilate dies on Good Friday. Whatever shred of integrity he has, it dies. His soul dies on Good Friday. The day does not belong to him, this Friday does not belong to Pontius Pilate.

And it doesn’t belong to organized religion either. You’ll remember, when Jesus dies, we’re told the curtain in the temple is torn in two – the great divider between the divine and the human is removed. We don’t need their doctrines and their petty little ideas anymore. God is directly accessible to us all. And within thirty years of the crucifixion of Jesus, Jerusalem is attacked by Rome – the Temple is destroyed. Organized religion thinks it can protect itself by collaborating with the emperor – but Rome only cares about Rome. They make the mistake that the late Billy Graham warned against when he said, “It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it!” No, this day does not belong to organized religion. On this day their orthodoxy dies. On this day their attempt to hold onto power is shown to be worthless and false.

What about the military? They think, “We’re just following orders … the man dies as the warrant commands that he should.” But then the soldier looks up and what does he say, he says, “Truly this was the Son of God …” On this day, the soldier’s illusion, “I can control things with my sword.” That illusion - it dies! Without lifting a finger in violence or retaliation, the sword slips from the soldier’s hand. This Friday doesn’t belong to military power.

And what about the mob, what about them? They wanted to see the man dead, but I bet there were many who, as they looked at the body of Jesus hanging on the cross, were sick to their stomach. I bet they go home and wonder, “My God, what was I thinking!” The power of the mob dies on that day. They lose their integrity.

And as for death – on Good Friday, death loses its power forever! On Good Friday death dies. This Friday does not belong to death. So then, to whom does this day belong?

You know, I wonder if maybe my Dad would change his mind. Maybe if he heard this sermon, he would reconsider. This Friday does belong to God, Good Friday, God’s Friday. This day belongs to God.