Good Friday is a holiday, and holidays are associated with festivities, so it is not surprising that some of my well-meaning non-Christian friends wish me a “Happy Good Friday”! We Christians are ourselves to blame for a wrong choice of word. It should actually be called “Holy Friday” in English; just as in Hindi it is called Punya Shukravar.
Most people are aware that Good Friday (for want of a better name) is when the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross about 2000 years ago. Christians believe in his redemptive suffering and death, to bring salvation to mankind. Just as sin, suffering and death came through the failing of one man, Adam; so too grace, peace and everlasting life come through the total submission to God’s will of the one man Jesus; referred to as the new Adam.
What really gets my goat though is when fellow Christians wish each other a “Happy Easter”, in the same sugary tone that we wish a child “Happy Birthday”. Easter is the third day after Good Friday, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This is the climax of Christian belief; that death is not the end, but the beginning of eternal life. The resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate proof that death is defeated, and sin has been atoned for.
As with Good Friday, so too with Easter, I am unable to explain where this word originated from, or what is its etymological root. What I do know is that it is used to commemorate Jesus’ resurrection. This mystery of death and resurrection, with its implications for life, is so profound and complex that it cannot be expressed in a mundane greeting like “Happy Easter”.
This discomfort with a “Happy Easter” goes back 30 years. I was living in Jyotiniketan Ashram, Bareilly, and was directing a play depicting the death and resurrection of Jesus. I also played the lead role of Jesus. It was not difficult to enact the last supper, the washing of the feet of the disciples, the whipping, the crowning with thorns, the carrying of a heavy wooden cross around the open air ground, and even the crucifixion.
What I couldn’t do was the resurrection scene, though I went through the motions, to the thunderous applause of the thousands gathered there. I was at a loss. There are human emotions to depict pain, sorrow and even death. But there is nothing to express the mystery of the resurrection. So pardon me if I cannot reciprocate a sugary sweet “Happy Easter”. But I do hope and pray that every one of us may discover for ourselves the deeper meaning of life and death.
* The writer is the President of the Kanpur Catholic Association.
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