TODAY is Good Friday. Christians all over the world commemorate the death of Jesus Christ with due solemnity and earnestness this day. The ancient question in the caption for this writing was asked by Job in the Biblical book named Job (Job 9:2). This question only leads us to search for the meaning of the cross of Christ, the cross of Calvary on which Jesus Christ died as ransom for the redemption of mankind from the bondage of sin.
Because of man's sinful nature he is so alienated from God that he cannot even think of coming before Him by virtue of anything that he possesses. He needs to put his faith and trust on a merciful and just God. He needs God's grace and mercy, which is revealed in the supreme sacrifice that Christ made on the cross.
Cross is the universal symbol of Christianity. The Latin word for "cross" is "crux," from which comes the English word "crucial." The cross is crucially important for understanding the meaning of the death of Christ. There are no less than 175 references to Christ's death in the New Testament. There are many prophecies and allusions to this in the Old Testament.
Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, gave up his life on the cross for atonement and as a ransom. He died as a substitute for sinful mankind. Peter said about his death: "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit (1 Peter 3:18)." God is righteous and holy. He must punish sin. Therefore, God in His grace and justice, gave His only begotten perfect son as a sacrifice for the sins committed by man.
So Christ died for all, and once for all. The theme of God's wrath against human sin runs throughout the Bible, both in the Old and the New Testaments. It is spoken about in the Old Testament as many as 580 times! While the Old Testament sacrificial system was only a shadow or copy, what Christ did by sacrificing his life on the cross is the full and final settlement of the issue of sin. All priestly and sacrificial rights prefigured Christ's.
He did what he did because of God's love for mankind and fulfilment of the Scriptures. He gave up his life on the cross, which was the vilest of capital punishment given to the worst criminal. This all happened because of the two crucial attributes of God. God is just or righteous and he is holy. So he must punish sin, but as man is sinful this was to be accomplished by the sinless son of God. Christ therefore, was the perfect sacrifice.
The elaborate and repeatable Levitical sacrificial system in the Old Testament could not take people's sins just because they were not perfect, but God ignored them in His forbearance towards repenting people. All the former arrangements were preparatory and pointing to Christ, who was to come as the perfect sacrifice once and for all. Animal's blood cannot cleanse man's heart. We can be cleansed only by the perfect sacrifice, the sacrifice of Christ, the "Lamb of God," if our trust in him is with true repentance and change of our hearts and minds.
Christ was rejected, dejected and utterly humiliated, and eventually he died on the cross, the death of a vile criminal. Paul said of him: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)."
But to the worldly mind the Messiah dying on the cross was contradiction in terms, utterly foolish and absurd. Bible scholar F.F. Bruce captured this in what he said about what the worldly-wise people may think of the Messiah's death on the cross: "Over and above the disgrace of crucifixion, how could anyone accept as lord and deliverer a man who had not sufficient wit to save himself from so ghastly a death, or look to such a man as an exponent of wisdom?"
The world cannot understand the meaning of the cross with worldly knowledge. But the "foolishness" (if we are to call this) of God is wiser than human wisdom; and the weakness of God is more powerful than human strength.
God is the Father of all creation. He is a just and righteous God. He loves all people. He wants that all people come to Him. The greatest two commandments that God gave us are to love Him with all that we have, and to love other people. We cannot love God if we hate and neglect others, people whom God loves. Christ was crucified two millennia ago; but he is crucified today when we disobey these commandments.
The world today is characterised by hatred, jealousy, selfishness and greed, and abuse of authority and power. Christ came to the world with divine love for all mankind, he humbled himself and bore the punishment that was due to us for our sins, and ransomed believers from the bondage of sin and Satan. As we observe Good Friday let us try to internalise the message of the cross -- change where we need to change, and live lives of sanctity, love and respect for God and His creation. We can do this if we have authentic trust and faith in God. This is the way to be right with God and also with people.

Reverend Martin Adhikary is Director, Advocacy & Promotion of Leprosy Mission Bangladesh.