Colors of the Church Year
Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. Luke 23:44-45
Of the colors of the church year, black is reserved for Good Friday, the day where our Substitute and Savior, Jesus Christ, endured our suffering—the suffering of hell–on the cross and thus completed the work of our redemption.
When viewing the black paraments that, on Good Friday, adorn the furnishings of the church, it leads me to think of the unusual darkness that took place at that time. The sixth hour for the Judeans would have been our noon. So, from noon until three o’clock, there was darkness all over the earth. What a moving display of deep seriousness and sorrow over the Son of God dying: the first thing ever created—light itself—ceasing for three hours across the world. This is what disobedience to God’s will has done. Doing what God forbids and leaving undone what He has commanded is what brought about three hours of worldwide darkness, the ultimate “power outage.” Human sin and human salvation is what drew the creator of light to the tree of the cross.
Yes, black is a fitting color for our Lord’s suffering and death, yet, though dark like ebony ashes, out of this day comes forth life. Some may claim that Good Friday is too gory and gruesome to celebrate, but these abysmal claims amount to nothing more than shrouding the cross and redemptive death of our Lord. Good Friday is a day of victory. It is a good day, for it was the day where “it” was finished. “It” refers to the salvation of our souls, the atoning for our sins, the reconciliation with our God, the ransom payment given. On this day the veil of sin separating us from our God was ripped in two, allowing us to have full communion with Him in prayer, praise and every blessing, temporal and eternal.
Silent thro’ those three dread hours, wrestling with the evil pow’rs,
Left alone with human sin, gloom around Thee and within,
Till th’ appointed time is nigh, till the Lamb of God may die.
The Lutheran Hymnal 174:2