It’s Good Friday. As is our tradition, no jokes today for today we remember Christ’s crucifixion. I’ll see you next week if you’re not into this kind of rant.
It was an ordinary day. People were preparing for the work of the day. My Dad had gathered the sheep and he’s watching over them graze on the mountains. Mom was preparing for our meal. I was on my way to the well to fill up a pail of water.
On my way, I see a crowd of people jeering at something … someone. Then I see HIM. I remember him. He’s the one who was preaching and healing and creating such a commotion. The crowd used to gather around him to listen to what he would say and see what tricks he could come up with. Now this very crowd is laughing at his torment. I almost didn’t recognize him because of all the blood that covered his face. There’s so much blood!
And why is he wearing those sharp thorns on his head? Why is he dragging that tree? He looks exhausted. His whole body is dripping with blood. Why doesn’t anybody help him? He must have done something really bad to deserve this.
“Uncle, why are they torturing him like this?” I asked the man standing beside me.
“They say he insulted the Pharisees. They say he claimed to be the Son of God! He’s crazy!”
“Weird! But what has he done? Did he steal? Who did he kill?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care. He’s crazy. No place in this world for the crazies. Busy day today. Gotta prepare for tomorrow. It’s the Sabbath day. We need to get this over and done with before sundown. Don’t worry kid. You’ll forget about this soon enough.”
It was an ordinary day … until it wasn’t … inconsequential for some but life changing for others.
“From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” — Matthew 16:22
The 21
A short animated film about 21 Coptic Christians who were captured by ISIS in Libya in 2015.
