Good Friday

The apparent failure of Christianity has proved its greatest strength

Betrayal, torture and execution: few enterprises could end in such ignominy. The sense of failure among the Disciples on that terrible Friday must have been total. One of their number had committed the ultimate duplicity, betraying to the occupying force their teacher and inspiration, the man for whom they had abandoned all else in life. Not only had their movement been crushed, their message rejected; but the man who had represented in his person all the wisdom, humanity and spiritual enlightenment of a God far beyond their comprehension had been crucified as a common criminal...

But the truth of Christ’s death is the truth of all life on earth: that in the very depths of despair can come relief born of inner spiritual resilience. However adrift the Disciples must have felt, abandoned, ridiculed and disillusioned, they carried in them a message and a conviction that was stronger than anything else on earth — stronger even than death...

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