What Is Good Friday, and Why Is It Called Good?

What happened on Good Friday?

All four Gospels tell the story, in Matthew 26–27, Mark 14–15, Luke 22–23 and John 18–19. Mark’s account is the shortest, and it gives the clearest timeline.

The burial was rushed because the Sabbath began at sundown, when no work could be done. That is why the women came back to the tomb early on Sunday (Mark 16:1–2).

Why is it called Good Friday?

Most likely because good once meant holy in English, the way the Bible is still called the Good Book. A popular idea says the name began as God’s Friday, but there is little evidence for it. Other languages name the day differently: Spanish speakers call it Holy Friday, Orthodox Christians call it Great Friday, and the German name, Karfreitag, means Friday of mourning.

For Christians, the name fits for a deeper reason too. The darkest day in the Gospels is the day they believe sin was dealt with. Isaiah described it centuries before:

“But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5).

Good Friday and the rest of Holy Week

Good Friday falls in Holy Week, the last week of Lent, which follows Jesus’ final days in Jerusalem.

Matthew and John both connect Palm Sunday to Zechariah 9:9: “Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey”. Maundy comes from the Latin word for commandment, after the new commandment Jesus gave at the supper (John 13:34).

Bible verses for Good Friday

Every verse in this guide is quoted from the World English Bible, with a line about where it comes from.

• Isaiah 53:6. “All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” From the last of Isaiah’s Servant Songs, which the first Christians read as a portrait of Jesus.
• 1 Peter 2:24. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds.” Peter wrote it to Christian household servants who were being treated unfairly.
• 2 Corinthians 5:21. “For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Paul’s one-sentence summary of the exchange at the cross.
• Philippians 2:8. “he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross.” Crucifixion was the most shameful death Rome had.
• Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Paul speaks of the cross as if he had been on it too.
• Hebrews 12:2. “looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame”. Written to Christians tempted to give up, to show them how to finish.
• 1 Peter 3:18. “Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God”. Once is the word that matters: nothing needs adding.

How churches keep Good Friday

Catholic churches hold no Mass on Good Friday. An afternoon service, often at three o’clock, reads the Passion from John’s Gospel, prays for the world and invites people to come forward and honor the cross. It is also a day of fasting and of no meat.

Orthodox churches keep Great and Holy Friday with services of lament and a procession with the epitaphios, an embroidered cloth showing Christ’s body. Many Protestant churches hold a Tenebrae service, putting out candles one by one as the readings move toward Jesus’ death, or a three-hour service from noon on his last words from the cross.

Good Friday is a public holiday in many countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Germany. In the United States it isn’t a federal holiday, though the stock markets close.

How to spend Good Friday

1. Read one Gospel’s account from start to finish. Mark 14 and 15 take about twenty minutes aloud.
2. Keep the hours from noon to three quieter than usual. Turn off the music and the news.
3. Fast, or eat simply, and give away what you save.
4. Read Isaiah 52:13–53:12 slowly, and notice how much of Friday is in it.
5. Don’t rush to Easter. Let Saturday be quiet too.

If you kept Lent this year, our Lent reading plan ends with these same chapters.

Common questions