Good Friday

[Carl Emerson]

Hi there,

Any thoughts on the name 'Good Friday'

Anyone else find the focus on the sufferings too intense?

I could no more watch the 'Passion of Christ' than fly to the moon.

 

[Dave G.]

He did it to be good news ultimately Carl. But yes it's rough to watch and it seems an odd name. Tomorrow is always a sobering day for me. Oh I go about my usual tasks but it's in the back of my mind all day. And so far ( I turned 70 today) through all my life I can't recall a Good Friday that didn't at least cloud up in the late afternoon.

 

[Sooti]

Hi Carl

Any thoughts on the name 'Good Friday'

Obviously the Good part is that this is the actual day that man was saved by sin, the only way possible, by the ultimate sacrifice of God.

I have a friend in France who took part in a passion play in a Mountain town called Roquebrune, and who carried the cross the entire trip up from Carnoles on the coast to the little cathedral there. Impressive feat.

I had joined this site an hour or so ago because I'd wanted to see if anyone else had done a COVID vigil for Maundy Thursday

I volunteer on a chat-support website and wanted to explain about why we do the vigil

I thought that maybe, seeing that most of the operaters are in the USA where the night has not yet begun, they might get some clients onsite tonight who may be doing the vigil

On Maundy Thursday Jesus was really uptight - He knew they were coming to arrest and kill him and that Judas had gone off to tell the guys who wanted to do that exactly where he was - in the Garden of Gethsemane.

He asked his disciples to stay up and pray with him, because he didn't want to be alone, but every one of them fell asleep - in fact the only person who did what Jesus asked him to do that night was Judas.

He probably felt a bit like Hagar, the night before God fed her the manna and promised her son would give birth to a nation

Lots of Christians stay up all night for Maundy Thursday as a vigil so they can try and empathise with how He might have been feeling.

I figure that a lot of the site's listeners get to speak to members who can't sleep from worry.

Anyone else find the focus on the sufferings too intense?

Yes - you're right the focus on the suffering is when the message gets lost. The biggest part of the message is that the ONLY way to be forgiven for ANY sin whatsover - even a breif vein thought - was for the sacrifice of a God.
So many people can easily forget and think that they will go to heaven because they pray, or donate, or because they go to church or volunteer.
None of that is true, and Good Friday is a good day to remember that, instead of merely focusing on the suffering, which would be too shallow


I could no more watch the 'Passion of Christ' than fly to the moon.[/QUOTE]

 

[ZNP]

Hi there,

Any thoughts on the name 'Good Friday'

Anyone else find the focus on the sufferings too intense?

I could no more watch the 'Passion of Christ' than fly to the moon.

This is the Body of Christ "counting it all joy" because Christ is victor.

 

[Sooti]

I've seen passion plays live that were pretty dramatic. I think that TV movies don't have the same worship effect as actually taking part in a passion play. In most real passion plays, there is no audience - the congregation has to play the part of either the disciples fearing they will be arrested and killed too (all of them denying Christ) or worse, the part of the crowd that revelled in Jesus' death. Sitting watching a movie doesn't really cut actually walking through and enacting the stations of the cross. But I figure there's only a very few people doing that this year at all - maybe somewhere here in Australia or NZ there's a rather large family with a country property that could go ahead and do a passion play without breaking any laws. They can do it for all of us. Next year it might be worth giving it a try where you live, Carl. Once in a lifetime, a passion play or enacted stations of the cross is an unforgettable and touching experience.
God bless you and uplift you from ever worrying about whether you should need to watch a Mel Gibson movie (or any other movie) to please Him.
I hope you have a wonderful Easter and that Sunday brings a rebirth of faith for you and all of us.
Kindest regards and brotherly love
Sooti

 

[Duke of Stratford]

I’ve always liked the term Good Friday. I think the reminder that The darkness of this day is the source of our light is a really good thing in a sobering way.

I understand how you feel about Passion. It’s a great movie, but not one I enjoy watching. When I was a teenager and I’d watch it with my family, my parents would skip over the most violent parts. Still an extremely painful thing to watch, but I think it was a good experience. Emphasizing the suffering is important because it shows us the reality of what Christ did. But there are different ways to go about it, and some ways are better for some people than others.

 

[dqhall]

Hi there,

Any thoughts on the name 'Good Friday'

Anyone else find the focus on the sufferings too intense?

I could no more watch the 'Passion of Christ' than fly to the moon.

This verse was planted in my mind:

John 12:24 (WEB) Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life.

 

[Sooti]

This verse was planted in my mind:

John 12:24 (WEB) Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life.

Sure dqhall - that's an eerie verse - but what John is talking about here is not actually about hating life : it's about hating wordly versus spiritual life: i.e. desire vs. devotion . . . when he says "'hating' your life" he's talking about hating worldly things like money, career, assets, popularity, "success" etc, (and therefore loving God instead) - i.e. if you don't "hate" the worldly shallowness of your life, you lose your eternal life.
It's certainly not about hating life itself, of course, because:
For starters, God is life (and says so in the very same book)
For seconders, our job is to rejoice in the Lord always, and that simply can't logically be acheived whilst hating life (in the normal sense of the word)
You don't need to take my word for this - have a look for 'commentaries' and you'll find that scholars have been pretty sure about this interpretation of this particular verse for hundreds of years.

 

[Amittai]

We in the pews used to take the part of the crowd plus a few other characters in the dialogue from Scripture.

That's less intense or passive than watching telly and brings the dynamic home better.

O-o-o-o, it causes me,
To tremble, tremble, tremble.

 

[dqhall]

Sure dqhall - that's an eerie verse - but what John is talking about here is not actually about hating life : it's about hating wordly versus spiritual life: i.e. desire vs. devotion . . . when he says "'hating' your life" he's talking about hating worldly things like money, career, assets, popularity, "success" etc, (and therefore loving God instead) - i.e. if you don't "hate" the worldly shallowness of your life, you lose your eternal life.
It's certainly not about hating life itself, of course, because:
For starters, God is life (and says so in the very same book)
For seconders, our job is to rejoice in the Lord always, and that simply can't logically be acheived whilst hating life (in the normal sense of the word)
You don't need to take my word for this - have a look for 'commentaries' and you'll find that scholars have been pretty sure about this interpretation of this particular verse for hundreds of years.

I agree one should give thanks for his daily bread.

There will be times of sorrow. Religious leaders were planning to kill Jesus and he knew it. It is possible he hated life under such circumstances and desired better.

Matthew 16:23 (KJV) But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.