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| "It's Friday, But Sunday's Coming" S.M. Lockridge (1913-2000), pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego |
It's almost impossible to imagine the kind of excruciating torture Roman and other ancient oppressors used to terrorize and execute people in the populations they controlled. It was intended to cause the most agonizing and prolonged pain and death possible.
In the church community in which I grew up Good Friday was day set aside as a time of fasting and reflection on the incredible love of God, who in Jesus chose to redeem and save an evil world, taking on himself the terrible effects of human sin rather than by inflicting wrath and vengeance on us.
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. He who knew no sin became sin for us."
- II Corinthians 5:18-21 (NRSV)
On this dark and momentous day I highly recommend your reading this description of crucifixion by Mary Fairchild, "Definition of Crucifixion, an Ancient Method of Execution."
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