The Joy Of Good Friday

St. Paul writes, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The cross is the focal point of our faith. It is the place where our sins were atoned for and our salvation was won. Apart from Christ’s death, we would remain lost and condemned persons. This month, we will once again celebrate what the Church for centuries has called the Triduum, simply meaning “three days.” These three days are the holiest days of the Christian year because they take us through our Lord’s betrayal, death, and resurrection. It is fitting, then, that over the centuries many additional rites and ceremonies developed surrounding these three days to catechize Christians concerning the significance of these three events. In this article, I will focus on a few traditions that developed surrounding Good Friday that you may run into at different churches around the LCMS.

To begin, I’d like to clear up a few pitfalls to avoid/misconceptions surrounding Good Friday. The first pitfall is the rites and ceremonies surrounding Good Friday becoming theatrical. When living out the church year, we always recognize that these events have occurred at a particular point in history. Therefore, it’s not as if each Good Friday we conduct our services like we are engaging in a play, pretending that Jesus didn’t already die and rise from the grave. Along with this is another dangerous pitfall: turning Good Friday into a sort of “funeral for Jesus.” While it is fitting and good for Good Friday celebrations to have a solemn mood and feel, it is not one of pure sorrow. It is not a day of despair. It is a restrained celebration because while it is true that it was our sins that nailed Jesus to the cross, the cross is also the place of victory and comfort. As Isaiah writes, “By his wounds we are healed” (Is. 53:5), and our Lord himself exclaimed as his final word, “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30). That is, “mission accomplished.” Salvation: won. Sin: destroyed. Satan: cast down. Death: trampled under his feet. All this of course was confirmed in our Lord’s resurrection. The death and resurrection of Jesus must be held together. They cannot be separated. This is why services beginning with Maundy Thursday and continuing through Easter are considered one service, not three services. Likewise, our Lord’s passion was not a series of disjointed events, but one conjoined event. In this way, the Christian celebration of Good Friday can be likened to the two parts of repentance: contrition (sorrow over sin) and faith (trust in the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ). On Good Friday, there is our remembrance of our Lord’s death and our sorrow that it was our sins that caused him to die. Yet, faith lays hold of Christ’s cross, giving thanks for the victory won that is now given through the means of grace. It is with all this in mind that we can then appreciate the additional ceremonies surrounding Good Friday.

Two common ceremonies observed on Good Friday are the Adoration of the Cross and the singing of the Reproaches. The adoration of the cross began as a ceremony outside the service and was well-established by the fourth century. Initially, this was an adoration of the relic of the true cross, but as time went on and relics of the true cross became sparse and suspect with respect to their authenticity, the ceremony shifted to focus on what the cross is: the instrument of our salvation. In our churches today, this ceremony usually consists of a procession of a rough-hewn cross with the words, “Behold the life-giving cross on which was hung the salvation of the world.” This ceremony is a beautiful reminder that the cross is first and foremost the instrument by which our Lord made satisfaction for our sins and secured our salvation. Secondly, it points us to where our Lord reigns. The cross is Jesus’ royal throne from which he pours out his mercy on all those who believe in him. It is his throne of grace, his mercy seat.

The Reproaches are a series of chanted rebukes spoken by our Lord to his Church based on Micah 6:3ff., Jeremiah 2:6-7, and Isaiah 5:2-4. These came into the Good Friday service by the seventh century. They contrast our Lord’s works of salvation (bringing his people out of Egypt, feeding and providing for his people, tending his people as his vineyard) with our rejection of him by our sin that led to his suffering and death (delivering him up to be scourged, giving him gall and vinegar to drink, and yielding evil works or “bad grapes”). Interspersed between these reproaches is our pleas for mercy in the form of the Trisagion (“Thrice Holy”) and the singing of a stanza of “Lamb of God, Pure and Holy.” These reproaches are meant to draw us to repentance, knowing it was our sins that necessitated his death and that apart from Christ we would be left without hope. The Reproaches are not meant to leave us in despair, however. The singing of the hymn and the Trisagion lead us to fix our eyes on Jesus and cling to his wounds for our balm and healing because he has borne the cross willingly and victoriously.

This is just a snippet of the additional ceremonies observed during Good Friday. I pray that should you ever attend a service with these ceremonies, they are instructive and edifying to you as you give thanks for our Lord’s victory on the cross over sin, death, and hell. After all, this is why we read St. John’s Passion. It is the most triumphant. Jesus’ cross is his glory, and by grace through faith, it is yours too.

In Christ,
Vicar Dunsmore