Good Friday is one of those distinctly Christian holidays that would seem more gruesome if we really thought about what we are meditating on today. Those who observe the liturgical year are spending a day meditating on the torture and execution of a first-century Jew.
After that it gets even weirder. Not only do we meditate on these grisly events, but we also have the audacity to proclaim that this tortured and executed first-century Jew is also the Lord of the whole world, and that his death was not a tragic accident but was in fact God’s victory over the powers of sin and death. That’s why Christians all over the world to this day continue to display, wear, and gather around a cruel execution device (the cross).
If you were inventing a religion, you wouldn’t put Good Friday in there. This is something only God could have come up with. Have a blessed Good Friday.
(Picture above is of a sculpture by Guido Rocha called The Tortured Christ.)
ht
Yeah, when you stop to think of it that way you can imagine what it sounds like to people in the world when we say stuff like “washed in the blood” or “the beautiful cross.”
Brad Ruggles
http://www.bradruggles.com
My God, how horrible. We need more art like this. We need to know, deeply – the Sacrifice.
i don’t think all the horrible paintings/art/movies in the world could really make us understand. and it won’t keep us from sinning either. in the here and the not-yet we fail miserably and are forgiven over and over again. that’s kind of how it goes here, and maybe for a purpose.