Good Friday: Linger in the Dark
Across Christian denominations, Good Friday has become less of an occasion to be heralded and dwelt in, and more of one to be glossed over to get quickly to Easter Sunday. We still see the Cross everywhere, but we no longer know what it means to spend time with it, because we treat the day that gave it meaning as a mere prelude that we endure before Easter, rather than a moment to sit with, witnessing to the brutal and atoning crucifixion of Christ.
Let us look to the Holy Scriptures for the words of Christ himself on Good Friday. In the Gospel of John, Jesus proclaims that “‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30 NRSV-CE). The death of Christ upon the cross is no mere prelude or interruption; it is the very act that gives the resurrection on Sunday meaning to begin with. Christ’s proclamation of completion, his last words before his death, signify the fact that it is through his death that the work of his ministry, the salvation of humankind from sin, is completed. His eventual resurrection demonstrates his conquering of death, yes, but it is the giving up of his spirit unto death on Good Friday that completed his work.
The work completed is the atonement of man, which in its totality is accomplished through the wilful death of Christ on the cross. It is the moment of Christ’s life when his love for us is most visible. “It is love to the end that confers on Christ’s sacrifice its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction” (CCC 616). Christ knew each and every one of us, and everyone that ever will be, to the deepest part of our souls, the worst sins they would commit, and in knowing that, offered his life up to his Father in reparation for all of our disobedience (CCC 614).
It is in the liturgy of Good Friday that this theology becomes an embodied practice. In the Catholic Church, there is no Mass on Good Friday; there is a service, but no Eucharist celebrated, in commemoration of the day that gave the Eucharist its meaning. Instead, it is a weighty occasion. The priests enter in silence. Isaiah is read, prophesying the Passion. Then the full scene of Christ’s crucifixion from the Gospel of John is narrated. Then the faithful approach the crucifix, adoring the sacrificial lamb, uncovered after a season of Lent building to this moment. The altar is bare, the tabernacle is empty, and the church itself becomes an image of absence—the absence of Christ in death.
The Passion of our Lord is something Christ enters into of his own volition to achieve the goal of the Incarnation. The cross is not a problem to be solved by Easter. The Cross is what gives Easter meaning in the first place. Spend time on Good Friday to reflect, do not let yourself blink past it to Easter, and observe the day with the solemn reverence it warrants. The liturgy of Good Friday gives us the means to do that, in community with other faithful Christians. Through it, we may stand at the foot of the Cross, as the Blessed Mother did, and wait in its shadow, keeping silent vigil.