For Christians, Good Friday is a day commemorating suffering and death of Lord Jesus. It has actually been a momentous day in history since Jesus died and was crucified. Powerful members of the religious and political communities mocked him in public on a solemn Friday. But thousands of years later the dark day is celebrated as 'Good Friday,' prompting the obvious question as to Why? How can a dark day with immensely saddening factuality be commemorated as being good? Well, there are two explanations for the good part of it.

Some say 'good' may have referred to 'holy' in Old English, a linguistic theory supported by many language experts. An old dictionary also notes Easter being called as Good Wednesday which is nowadays called as Holy Wednesday. The earliest known use of "guode friday" is found in The South English Legendary, a text from around 1290, according to the dictionary. The standard US Catholic school text from 1885 to the 1960s say Good Friday is good because Christ "showed His great love for man, and purchased for him every blessing". The Wikipedia etymology claims Good Friday as a corruption of the phrase God's Friday.

But leaving aside the linguistic part of it, a theory suggests, Good Friday is called so because the Christians believe, there is something very good about it. It is the anniversary of Jesus suffering and dying for their sins. It is the day when God himself was acting to save the world from itself, once and for all. God Jesus was hoping to bring the greatest good, even if it meant his own death. The crucifixion of Jesus was so that the people will not have to suffer further. The day led to Jesus's Resurrection, symbolic of his victory over death and sin. This celebration is of the day of Easter, the happy occasion. So that is one theory of this day referred as 'good.'

So what is good in Good Friday? 

The terrible suffering of and death of Jesus, culminated as God’s plan to save the people from their sins. God's holiness is incompatible with sin. And out sins separate us from God. While the punishment for sin is eternal death, Jesus's death provided a sacrifice for sins. He helped forgive the sins of the people, he washes the sins and makes us stand on the right path to worshipping God. So God in a way makes salvation possible through Jesus Christ. So a Good Friday is actually commemorating the celebration ahead. According to Christianity.com, the day marks the meeting of wrath and mercy at the cross. That’s why Good Friday is so dark and so Good.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 27, 2018 06:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).