The story of Easter – Christ’s crucifixion, death, and resurrection – was first narrated in the bible by Apostle Matthew in the 27th chapter of his book. The story details the inhumane treatment of Christ, the son of God by Roman soldiers on the streets of Jerusalem; He was stripped almost naked, beaten, flayed, spat on, jeered at and finally nailed to a cross where he bled to death. This is what Christians commemorate during the three day observance of Easter which often falls on the last weekend of March starting on Good Friday. However, there has always been a debate on why a day which marks the suffering and death of Christ is tagged “good”.
Quite frankly, there is no one answer as several linguists and theologians have come up with different answers and theories on the goodness of Good Friday.
The first theory is that Good Friday is called “good” because of the gift of love and salvation that Christ’s death brought for all mankind. The exquisite brutality suffered by the son of God ultimately led to His resurrection, and His victory over death and sin. So, for quite a number of Christians, as terrible as the events of that day were, it happened in order for them to receive the joy of Easter, this is their interpretation of why the day is tagged “good”.
The second theory is that the word ‘good’ is synonymous with the word ‘holy.’ As reported by the BBC, Fiona MacPherson, a senior editor at the Oxford English Dictionary, explains that the adjective, good, traditionally “designates a day on, or a season in which religious observance is held.” And that in the context of Easter, good refers to a holy day observed by the church. Therefore, for some Christians, the day is good simply because it is holy.