The week leading up to Good Friday is known as the Holy or Passion Week by certain religions. The night before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is known as Maundy Thursday. We remember Maundy Thursday as the day when Jesus Christ had his last supper with his disciples, and, before his arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection.
Who is Jesus Christ and what has he done that people all over the world remember Good Friday and Easter Sunday? Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one or Saviour. Jesus is his name and Christ is his title. You may say Jesus the Christ. Christ means the Anointed One, the Greek translation of the Hebrew word rendered “Messiah.” When Jesus asked his disciples who Jesus was, the reply was from one of his disciples as recorded for us in Matthew 16:15-17 was: “Jesus said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.’”
You may ask why we need a Saviour. What issues do we have that require Saviour?
When God first created the world, everything was perfect. The earth and its environment, with all living things be it—trees, flowers and fruits yielding trees, the birds that fly in the sky, the fish that swim in the seas and the land animals were perfect. The creation of heaven and earth was perfect. God climaxed his creation with the creation of man and it was perfect. However, God set a rule for man to follow. The rule was a simple one, which is found in Genesis 1:15-17: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.’”
Man broke the command of God by eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From that day on, man dies as what God had said. It is a tragedy for man to disobey God’s command as this will incur the wrath of God and result in the punishment from God. This has marred God’s perfect creation. Not only has disobedience brought death, but also many other consequences such as toiling of the grounds for food, woman has to suffer labour pain when giving birth, et cetera.
Although this is the saddest day in human history, we thank God that the story did not end here. On Good Friday, God punished his Son Jesus Christ for all the wrong that man has committed against God. God poured his full anger on his Son Jesus Christ so as to save us from our sins and from the eternal punishment which God has reserved in Hell.
May we rejoice instead for Good Friday. Though it cost Jesus Christ his life, yet this is the greatest good news for man. We who believe in Jesus Christ to be Saviour, will not see death when Jesus Christ returns in full glory as the rightful Messiah, the anointed one, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and our wonderful Saviour!