What went down on Good Friday

Today is Good Friday. I was raised Catholic but can't say that I really understood what my beliefs were supposed to be. I remember Good Friday as the day that mom took away our Gameboys and TV's and basically didn't let us have fun from 12-3. I realized that regardless of your current religious beliefs, it's important to at least understand why people are recognizing this day. I went to my bookcase looking for a Bible thinking I'd just "look it up" but realized 1-I don't have a Bible in my home and 2-While yes, the Bible is decent literature, its pretty long and 3-I can Google it. First, I wondered why is Good Friday "good" if (from what I remember) wasn't such a good day for Jesus. Turns out, Holy...Good..interchangeable. It's Holy Friday. Then I decided I should probably read the story of what happened. I wikipedia'd it. I read it but didn't really follow, then reread it and translated it into Pamela-talk. It was actually a good read once I took the time to interpret it. Want the broken down, Pamela version of what happened oh-so-many years ago?

Here it is:

Good Friday recognizes the day that JC was crucified. Judas sold out his friend JC to the temple guards for money. They take JC to the high priest to interrogate him, there's conflicting testimony against JC but he doesn't say anything. They ask him, straight up, are you the son of The Big Guy? He says, yup. They say it's blasphemy. He goes through the whole legal battle and they sentence him to death. The leaders go back and forth, should we, shouldn't we? Can we? Some of JC's buddies act like they don't know him and don't really stick up for him. A roman governor (Pilate) says, hold up, there isn't any grounds for this sentencing. Him and ruler of Gaillee both decide there's not case. The crowd asks for Barrabas. Little background story on B- he was in prison for murder. They ask what to do with JC and they say, "crucify him". Pilate has JC flogged (beat) and then brings him outta the crowd to release him. BUT WAIT! The chief judges now say there's a new charge- he should be sentenced to death because he claims to be the son of TBG. Pilate was like, for real? Pilate washed his hands clean (literally) of the situation and said JC was innocent. But... still hands JC over to avoid a riot and to keep his job. JC carries his cross to the site and is crucified along with 2 criminals. He agonizes for 6 hours. The last 3 (noon-3) darkness falls over the land. When JC gives up his spirit, there's an earthquake. Afterwards, all of these secret followers (now they show up!) ask for JC's body and ensure he gets a proper burial. On the 3rd day, he came back!

Some things I find interesting:

• JC's friend gave him up for money
• JC's followers only came out when it was too late
• Pilate thought he was innocent but still handed him over because he didn't want to lose his job.
• Friday was a really terrible day but without Friday, there would have been no Sunday!
• He went through the courts, the judges, and no one really seemed to know what to do with him. The advice to crucify him came from a guy in prison.

Reading through I noticed some general themes

• Don't trust your friends
• The law isn't on your side
• Truth isn't always the right answer

So, JC went through the process of death to teach these people how cruel they were. With this lesson we also learned that there's an afterlife. So, while we still witness death and cruelity, now we can at least have hope in this afterlife. It almost makes me afraid that this day, this annual commemoration, reminds people that while does life sucks and unfortunately the 3 general themes (that I listed above) are true, don't worry, everything will resolve itself in the afterlife.

This kind of made me wonder. Trust me, I'm not ignoring the larger, more obvious, positive message of this event but I'm wondering if since this piece of literature has shaped the education of so many people around the world, young and old, if this is the reason we experience some of the same types of situations nowadays. This is a message that is replayed to us on a yearly basis. Jesus was left to suffer while everyone else covered their own asses. Of course you don't WANT to be that guy that sells out Jesus for some extra cash, but now you know that it did happen, it can happen, it will happen. I just wonder, like I would with any other book, what the underlying (and maybe unintentional) messages are.

Maybe I should spend a little more time studying the bible or maybe I can be a good example of the majority of people with minimal knowledge (regardless of how much education I had on the topic) of the religion they were raised with. I feel like religion has so much opportunity for interpretation and it is often used as a "get out of jail free" card when judging someone's character. Saying someone is highly religious and very well-versed in their spiritual book of guidance doesn't make someone a good person. It's how one interprets this information and how they apply it to life. If you religious beliefs don't allow you to accept others around you and limits your ability to get to know someone or a situation, limits your desire to fact find, how does that make you better? I love interacting with very spiritual people and I admire their faith. When you witness someone depend on their religion to get them through a hard time, or give them the confidence and hope to carry on, its always beautiful to see. I respect everyone and their beliefs and this is why I spend a great deal of time learning about all the different religions of the world. Today I googled passages from the Bible, tomorrow I'll read my lil' book of Buddha quotes. I am fearful to post this blog considering the topic of religion is always risky, but I hope people can value that I started this without a clue of what happened on Good Friday and now I have a better idea. Religion Class 101.


Just a little disclaimer: Consider the source. You are reading my interpretation (I am not claiming to have a clear time line of religious events) of a story I read on Wikipedia. I can't promise anything is accurate or even make sense.