A very popular African American spiritual by an unknown author first published in 1899 and one which was a favourite of Mahatma Gandhi runs as follows:
“Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?”
It dwells on the details of the crucifixion. It is a tender and beautiful hymn, the climax of its effect depending largely on the hold and slur on the exclamation “Oh!” with which the third line begins, and the repetition and expression of the word “tremble! tremble! tremble!”. That horrible scene on history’s first-ever Good Friday enacted on Golgotha’s hill of Calvary nearly two thousand years ago, has to this day kept alive the reverberating and immortal memory of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity.
Religious faith
Once considered a marginal Jew, he stands today at the centre and core of the religious faith of nearly 2.4 billion devotees across continents and cultures. Crucifixion as a method of capital punishment dates back around 6 BC to Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians and finally to period of the Roman empire when it was abolished in 4 AD by Constantine, the first Christian emperor out of veneration to Jesus Christ, who fell a victim to it.
It was a savage practice indeed and a most brutal and shameful way for a person to die. It was meted out to those who rebelled against the emperor, the slaves, prisoners and foreigners. Some say that Christ was crucified on the pretext that he instigated rebellion against Rome, on a par with zealots and other political activists. But the real reason was that he claimed to be the Messiah and that official religious leaders were not ready to comply with his new teaching about religion and certain practices in vogue at that time. He was also accused of blasphemy, speaking against Caesar and creating social unrest.
The story of the crucifixion has stayed on with humanity despite the fact that the stories of others crucified have disappeared. The Gospels that tell the story of Jesus Christ, his infancy, his later life and ministry do not shy away repeating ad nauseam that He was crucified. Today the cross and its sign remain the distinctive mark of Christianity. There could never be a Jesus Christ without the Cross.
It was not an easy task for the disciples of Jesus to preach and declare a Messiah one who was crucified, the suffering servant as Isaiah an ancient prophet taught. They had to convince people that they have acted in complete ignorance of the one whom they killed: the Holy one of God. St.
Paul, the valiant first evangeliser of the gentile world and territories under Roman rule had to emphatically proclaim in his letter to ancient Corinth, a city in Greece not too far from Athens, that Christ and him crucified is the wisdom God offers to mankind despite the fact that it is a scandal to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. The very spirituality of Christianity is rooted in the mystery of the cross which demands that people nail their sinful habits to the cross and rise to a new life with the Risen Lord: a life of faith, fraternity and peace.
Dying and rising with the Lord Jesus is the theme of spirituality. The crucifixion is seen as the climax of an act of self-emptying unto the obedience of the cross as taught by St. Paul to the believers in the city of Philippi. He exhorts the new believers to have the same mind of this crucified Saviour.
Good Friday was a day of darkness when truth and justice seemed to have been eclipsed in the judgment Pilate the Roman governor delivered in the condemnation of Jesus, the prophet, the itinerant preacher and the miracle worker. Here was the case of political authority under pressure from religious authority and the clamour of the people.
Pilate being a coward and sensitive to his own position and rank as a powerful man standing for Caesar was forced to wash his hands off the blood of an innocent man when handing over Jesus to be crucified. It was truly a travesty of justice without precedent in the history of judicial proceedings.
On Good Friday, law and legal justice failed miserably to stand up to its integrity in defence of an innocent man. He indeed had to cleanse the temple which the merchants turned into a market place of trade and money-laundering thus violating its sacred precincts. He had the courage to condemn the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of the temple and the Sanhedrin, the supreme seat of religious authority as well as express displeasure at the cunning nature of the rulers. He did break the conventional rule of the Sabbath in going out in healing the sick and defending sinners.
Incredible drama
The hatred, jealousy and the opposition that whirled up exploded on the day of Jesus’ trial when a whole multitude that gathered in the city were manipulated to clamour for his crucifixion. It was an incredible drama of crowds that were victims of a craftily manoeuvered plot by leaders. The Bible makes no bones when often it focuses on Jesus and Him crucified. It stands unwavering and without compromise by this stark and disturbing truth.
Good Friday is itself a judgment on Injustice and represents the scenario of the miserable failure of law and the legal world which succumbed to a lie and deception. An innocent man was condemned to the most humiliating and brutal form of capital punishment known at that time and reserved for rebels, murderers, extortioners and slaves.
Good Friday reminds us of those who suffer under dictatorial authority, prisoners who are ill-treated and tortured, those kept in chains without trial, people who are denied of their human dignity and are forced to migrate in thousands in search of greener pastures, the miserable conditions of children starving, unschooled and denied of parental love, young people lured by drugs and needing long-term rehabilitation, people addicted to pornography and ending up with serious forms of addiction that dehumanise them and finally all forms of destruction and demeaning of life such as abortion, euthanesia, surrogacy and abuse of human embryos and contraception.
There is the travesty of marriage held so sacred by all genuine religion with the legalisation of same-sex unions. These factors directly contravene the dignity of motherhood, fatherhood, spousal love, marriage and the dignity of children in whom we see the gift of life whose lives are disrupted with due warm and domestic environment denied to them in parental love and care. The psychological trauma that emerges in these situations is truly alarming.
Tale of woes
Good Friday brings before us the tale of woes that affect people of today in many ways. This is despite the unbelievable scientific feats and technological achievements of which we can be proud. It is sadly to be noted that the moral development of humanity has apparently not gone hand in hand with technological development. Abuse and corruption in the higher seats of political power and governance continue to be the wane and bane of entire nations and peoples resulting in many instances in bankruptcy to unprecedented levels instilling political instability and economic crises that fire people, especially the poor and worker population to anger and violent demonstrations which are often quelled by state brute force.
Frequent social unrest and widespread agitations are a sign of peoples’ cry for justice and truth who are under severe pressure of the high cost of living and with sky-rocketing prices of essential goods, as well as mean salaries. The ever-increasing and widening gap between the rich and the poor may tilt an economy if not remedied. Globally, the arms trade spells a death-threat to nations while human rights and the commitment to disarmament are vital for redeeming the aura of fear and insecurity that will grip nations with loss of hope and credibility in international organisations and international law.
The man on the Cross on Golgotha’s hill of shame sends a strong message to the world as Christians celebrate Good Friday. As a devotee lost in the contemplation of Christ on the cross felt, the crucified will refuse to come down until all nations come and gather at the foot of His cross looking upon him whom they have pierced. It is the divine Shepherd who has made himself for his dear flock, a meek lamb of sacrifice to put true love and dignity in the hearts and minds of people and in the soul of all humanity.
