Why Is the Stock Market Closed on Good Friday?

Every year as Easter comes around, for the past 11 years, I get a day off when most are going to work: Good Friday. Good Friday is the Friday before Easter and is the day that Christians all over the world celebrate something quite odd: We celebrate that Jesus died on the cross. Seems odd, but the reason we celebrate is because of what happened on that next Sunday, namely, that Jesus was raised from the dead showing his victory over death and sin for us and for our salvation.

This explains quickly what the day of Good Friday is, but why is the stock market closed on this day?

There are many answers for this seemingly oddity. For one, Good Friday is not a Federal Holiday so many places will be open on this day, including public schools. One explained it this way:

Our coountry was founded and based on "Chrisitan" standards. If you dont like it, then leave (spelling mistakes were made from the genius who posted this remark)

I'm pretty sure that isn't the reason for the closure. Here are some other reasons I have heard for the closure:

- In 1907 Irish Catholic stock brokers got scared of the sell off the last time the market was open on Good Friday because so many people didn't do business on that Friday. They coined this day "the panic of 1907". (my quick reading on this panic had nothing to do with Good Friday, so this is someone just blowing smoke)

- Wiki Answers says that it has been closed on Good Friday since the NYSE's inception (so answer number one would be wrong based on this)

- It is merely a way to observe Easter to appease Christians

- Judas sold out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver on Good Friday so Christians refused to do any business on this day in remembrance of the crucifixion of Jesus

- It was an inter-confessional agreement between the Jews and Christians to celebrate Passover/Easter season

- The landlord had a disclaimer that if they were going to give the NYSE low rent that they had to close for Good Friday since it was an important Christian holiday and the landlord was a Christian.

These are the explanations I could find. Which is right? Not sure. With the high number of Jews and Christians in the New York area, I could actually see that the NYSE did some sort of interfaith day off for Passover/Good Friday. I am not sure why I get the day off, but I don't mind it.

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Stewardship Diagram

This is a diagram I created to use as talking points for my beliefs of stewardship. As you can see, I am a huge believer in the fact that our physical and spiritual stewardship are closely related and Christ centered.

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God's Glory and the Stock Market

Many of you know, some may not, that my primary business is investments. I have been in the business since 1999 and seen many ups and downs. My father has been in the business since 1987. He actually started with Merrill Lynch a couple of months before Black Monday. What is interesting about the markets and my clients is that their joy and their happiness is ran by the stock market. Also, their love of me all depends on our returns. I have literally been told many times that I am a genius, and then when the market turned sour, that same client has said that they wanted to sue me because I am a moron. I admit that I am a moron, but please, don't sue me, because that just sucks.

Unless you have been in a cave, the markets have been all over the place because of our great administration that has allowed the biggest financial companies in the world to fall apart. You would think that they would have learned from Enron, Worldcom, etc. but it seems as though they have allowed the same mistakes to be made, just in different areas and in different ways. As of yesterday morning at about 9am, all the markets were down over 20% each for the year. Because of the downfall of the markets, you can only imagine how many times I have been called an idiot by my own clients...which some, because of their tone, have been told, "close your account, we will no longer service you." Which is the best part about owning your business. Instead of "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service" we stand by, "No Brains, No Tact, No Thanks."

The other side of the coin are those clients who ask, "How are you doing?" I have been asked by clients and others that know my line of business how I have been taking this down turn emotionally. This is the definite reason that God has placed me in this industry. My life is not determined by the Stock Market. My joy is not determined by the Stock Market. Is it difficult when the times are down? Yes, of course. Is it gut wrenching at times? Yes, of course. Does it destroy me and cause me to lose it in these circumstances?

Come on...remember...Jesus died for my soul. To live is Christ. Jesus is my prize, Jesus is my life, not my stupid job. Not money. Have I struggled with this concept? Yes, but like Paul said, I am dying daily in Christ Jesus (1 Cor 15:31). What does this mean? It means that if I am trying to prize Christ above all, then all his gifts to me are not the ultimate prize, he is. So, I die daily to health, wealth, friends, family and, of course, the Stock Market. If I die daily to these things, then when they are taken from me, I do not lose hope or joy, because my prize is found in Christ.

John Piper puts it this way:

When everything in life is stripped away except God, and we trust him more because of it, this is gain, and he is glorified.

So, when the Stock Market is up or down, God is glorified and He is good. When the Stock Market is down, it gives me the opportunity to tell those clients and those Christians who ask about my emotional state...God is glorified in this because He is my prize.

God designs that tribulations intensify our hope for the glory of God. Paul says in Romans 5:2 that we have access by faith into grace and “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Then he tells us in the next two verses how that hope is preserved and sweetened: “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (verses 3–4).

This hope that grows and deepens and satisfies through suffering is the hope of verse 2, the “hope of the glory of God.” We were made to see and savor this glory. And God, in love, will use whatever trials are necessary to intensify our savoring of his glory.
John Piper

This is the message that I get to show others through my life, especially when the Market gets ripped to shreds.

And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

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