Good Friday? Not for one guy it wasn’t.

 

I’ve always been mystified why today is called ‘Good’ Friday. All those years ago, a charismatic young chap by the name of Jesus was thrown by an angry mob in front of a kangaroo court, and had some trumped up charge laid against him. They then whipped him to within an inch of his life, dragged him through the streets where he was spat at, hurled abuse at, crowned with a lovely garland of metal spikes, hoisted up onto a wooden cross, and then, just when he thought it couldn’t get worse, he is nailed to the bloody thing, and then someone rams a whopping great spear into his side! Now, I don’t know about you, but I’d think that would rank as a pretty bad day at the office!

Was it ‘good’ because it somehow proved how far he was willing to go for a cause? Was it ‘good’ because it provided the best piece of entertainment anyone had seen for a while? Or was it ‘good’ because the leaders of the day got rid of this annoying pain in the arse that had showed them up once too often?

The only thing I saw as good today was Pope Benedict XVI officiating at Mass in the Vatican. Not because I like the man, absolutely not. Not because I am a devout Catholic; nothing could be further from the truth.  I saw the the wierdest thing happen in a small videoclip I watched. He was walking back to his seat at one point, and was being assisted by 2 priests. What filled me with joy was the way he was being assisted. Both of them were almost carrying him from either side which indicated to me that he is becoming frailer, and…with any luck…closer to meeting his maker.

I may have misinterpreted it, but the thought of this notorious arch conservative hate mongerer and witch hunter looking like he was on the downhill slide, made it, for me, a very ‘Good Friday’ indeed.

Enjoy your day…and Happy Easter to my Christian readers.