Good Friday late (March/April)

Falling on the Friday before Easter (q. v.) the anniversary of the death of Jesus of Nazareth is the most solemn festival of the Christian year. On this day Jesus was crucified by his enemies and, as God incarnate, thus redeemed the sins of men that they might be saved from eternal damnation in hell.

Crucifixion was the punishment for a number of offences under the Roman Empire: it entailed the nailing of the hands and feet of the victim to a wooden cross where he was left to die. Wine was offered to deaden the pain but Jesus refused it. Although the trial was conducted by Jewish priests, only the Roman governor, Pontius Pilatus, was empowered to order the death penalty. Speed was essential for the priests, who had to have the execution carried out before the Jewish Sabbath which begins at sunset on Friday, and so the trial continued throughout the previous night.

Special services are held on this day and the purple veils with which some churches cover the crucifix during Passiontide are removed (Passion Sunday is the fifth Sunday of Lent and two weeks before Easter). Coverings on other pictures and images are removed on Holy Saturday in preparation for Easter . Spicy bread buns marked with a pastry cross are eaten on this day in memory of the crucifixion.

The Death of Jesus

While Jesus prayed in the quietness of the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas was being paid thirty pieces of silver for volunteering to lead the soldiers to arrest him. Jesus knew what would happen to him and had told the disciples that they could not keep faith with him even for that one night.

'That may be true of the others,' said Peter, 'but I will stand by you.'

'Before the cock crows three times, Peter,' Jesus told him, 'you will have pretended three times that you don't even know me.

'I'd rather die. I will never let you down.'

Jesus prayed in the garden:

'Father, don't let me suffer this. But if it is your wish, I will do it.' Jesus turned to his disciples; they had all fallen asleep. When he woke them they were ashamed and promised to stay awake. Again Jesus prayed : 'Father, if I have to suffer this, then I must, because it is your will.'
A second time the disciples had gone to sleep. This time Jesus left them sleeping and prayed yet again. When he had finished he woke the disciples. 'Still sleeping? The hour has come. The Son of Man has been betrayed to sinful men. Get up! The traitor is here!'

At that moment Judas appeared with the soldiers of the Temple guard carrying torches and swords and clubs. Judas had told the soldiers that the man he went up to and kissed on both cheeks was their man.

'You don't need your swords; I'm not a bandit. Besides I've been down to the Temple every day, why didn't you arrest me there?' Jesus turned to the disciples, but they had run away, everyone.

After he had been arrested Jesus was taken for questioning to the house of the Chief Priest. Outside Peter waited. A serving girl said to him :
, Aren't you one of those with Jesus of Galilee?'

'1 don't know who you mean,' said Peter quickly, and he went out of the gate. As he came out another girl said:

'This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.'

'1 don't even know the man,' answered Peter crossly.

Later some people standing by asked Peter:

'Surely you're another of that lot from Galilee, with Jesus? We can tell by the way you talk.' Peter started arguing angrily with them, and, as he did so, a cock crowed three times. When he remembered what Jesus had said, Peter wept bitterly. Inside the house the priests had had enough of questioning and took Jesus before the Roman governor. They said that Jesus was guilty of causing trouble and calling himself King of the Jews.

' Are you a king?' asked Pilate, the Roman governor.

'You used the word, not me,' said Jesus.

Pilate was cross with the priests; they had no real case against Jesus. 'I can't find anything wrong with this man. I shall let him off with a
flogging. Wait! -it's my custom at this time of year to free one prisoner for the Jews. I shall ask the people to set this Jesus free. He has done nothing wrong. Pilate went to the crowds outside his palace and called to the people below, but the priests had already put their supporters among them.

'Crucify him! Crucify him !' the priests' men shouted.

'Crucify him !' shouted the people. Soon the whole crowd was demanding the death of Jesus. Not wanting trouble Pilate handed Jesus over to his soldiers to be taken for execution. First Jesus was flogged. Then the soldiers, laughing, dressed him up like a king- a red robe on his back, a stick in his hand for a sceptre and a crown of thorns pressed down on his head. They bowed low before him and joked:

'Hail, King of the Jews.'

And they spat on him and beat him. Carrying his own wooden crossbar, Jesus was led to the place of execution outside the city, where his hands and feet were nailed to the crossbar. The cross was put in position and a notice was nailed on the top which read: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

As Jesus hung from the cross he called out to God : 'Father, forgive them; they don't know what they're doing.'

At the foot of the cross, the people jeered and mocked and laughed, and the soldiers gambled for his clothes. It was midday. Then a darkness came over the whole land as the sun was eclipsed. For three hours the darkness lasted until Jesus called out:

'Father, take my spirit into your hands.'

The Roman officer looked up and said, as Jesus died : 'Truly, this man was the Son of God.'

As evening fell a rich friend of Jesus, Joseph of Arimethea, went to Pilate to ask if he could take the body to be buried. Pilate gave the orders and the body of Jesus was handed over to Joseph who took it to his own tomb, a cave in the rock.

The priests came complaining to Pilate:

'It was prophesied that this Jesus would come to life three days after his execution. We must have your permission to block up the mouth of the tomb. If we don't, his disciples will steal away the body and pretend that he's alive again.

Permission was given and a huge boulder was rolled across the cave mouth and a guard of temple soldiers was left to keep watch.

Jesus said:

'When a man believes in me, he believes in Him who sent me rather than in me; when he sees me, he sees Him who sent me. I came as a light into the world, so that whoever believes in me shall not live in darkness. But if anyone hears my words and pays no attention to them, I shall not judge him: I didn't come to judge the world but to save the world.'
(from the Gospel of St. John, late lst century CE)

Easter Sunday (late March/April)

Easter (perhaps named after an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring) was a pre -Christian festival marking the end of winter. It is now one of the high points of the Christian year being the anniversary of the return of Jesus Christ from the dead. This essential part of Christian dogma promises life after death to mankind through this event.

Easter is a movable feast, calculated according to rather complex rules using a hypothetical moon, and can fall anywhere between 22 March and 25 April. Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Ascension Day, and Whit Sunday all move their dates in relation to Easter. The festival is celebrated by Western and Eastern churches on the same date.

Easter is a time of great rejoicing for Christians but it does not have the same secular connotations in the west as Christmas (q. v.). Special church services are held, images and statues covered since Passion Sunday are revealed, and churches are often decorated with flowers. Easter has always been associated with the coming of spring and the rebirth of nature. In Britain chocolate eggs are given to children as an ancient symbol of new life. Some few customs such as rolling eggs down hills still survive.

The Resurrection of Jesus

Jesus had been crucified and Joseph of Arimethea, a rich follower of his, had taken the body to be laid in his own tomb. The priests were afraid that the disciples might steal the body and pretend that Jesus had risen from the dead. They had ordered that a huge stone be rolled across the mouth of the cave. Saturday, the Jewish holy day, had passed, and it was now the early morning of Sunday.

Mary, a friend of Jesus, and another Mary, the mother of two of the disciples, walked sadly to the grave. The place where the body had lain was empty. Inside the tomb was an angel who told them that Jesus had risen from the dead.

They started to run back to where the disciples were staying, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. And as they ran away they saw a man standing in their path. When they looked into his face they saw at once that it was Jesus. The angel had been right: the man that had been put to death three days before was standing here alive before them. Jesus had conquered death.

Jesus calmed them in their excitement fear and gave them a message for his disciples. He would meet them all in Galilee and they should set out for that place straightaway.

Full of joy the eleven disciples travelled back to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to meet, and when they saw him, they fell on their knees because they now knew for sure that Jesus was God on earth.

He told them:

'Go forth and make all nations my disciples; baptise men everywhere in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them all that I have taught you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, to the end of time.'

Many people think of Jesus as the light which shines in a dark and ignorant world. At a time when Christians were being attacked in Rome and elsewhere, one Christian wrote:

'Let us shake off the ignorance and darkness that spreads like mist over our eyes and let us really see the true God. Let us sing a hymn of praise to the God of Light. We lay buried in darkness and shut up in the shadow of death, when a light shone out from heaven, alight purer than the sun and sweeter than the life of earth. That light is everlasting life, and whoever shares in it will live. Night shrinks back from the light and gives place to the day of the Lord.'
(from 'Encouragement' by Clement of Alexandria, 2nd century CE)