The Significance of “Good Friday”
One doesn’t have to be overtly religious to observe innocent people being wrongly accused, wrongly judged and wrongly executed -- and rather than the authorities and reporters doing something to prevent it, they are the very ones instigating these persecutions. That is the eternal lesson of Good Friday -- and not that there was a single injustice thousands of years ago that has never been repeated again, that we should be hopeful will be revealed as the greatest blunder of all time -- that the person targeted, was the Son of God.
That obvious moral is missed by both the religious and the secularists. Good Friday is about justice -- and how whatever justice one metes out, will be the justice returned a hundredfold -- as a curse or a blessing, whichever one chooses it to be -- and lives their lives.
It is therefore very fitting that it takes place around the same time one has to square their accounts with “Caesar,” as well. But for most, there is no significance of anything -- but a day off they got free, for no good reason, and that is all they need to know -- before deciding on the distraction to fill an idle day.
But that is why Good Friday is among the holiest of observances, for those who do think about such matters -- as probably a defining moment and standard of their own moral lives -- which unfortunately many people in society do not think is important.
Like many “religious” observances, it is a tradition of a much more universal human significance, for which the Church made it an official station on the calendar to mark the progress of each individual soul throughout the journey of their years. It is not essentially religious or secular -- but about the individual spirit to stand alone (with God) -- even against all other men, particularly the self-serving, self-righteous, self-important people of any time.
Those are the few who rise above the crowd at such times, and identify themselves to God -- which is the all-knowing. Most importantly, that is the person each knows of themselves.
So as one reads the mainstream (mass) media on this observance of Good Friday, one is singularly struck by the absence of this reflection and spirit in any of their writing and thoughts for the day. For them, it is just another day of cowardice and insignificance, in which their best excuse is, “Everybody else does it, so why shouldn’t I.”
But such a pronouncement is never to be able to look at another human being in the eyes and in the face, without the fear of being thusly known as one who stood for nothing of any consequence or significance all their lives. And so fondly, they retell their lives and vividly relive their memories in how they would have done it over, if they had to do it again, as though they did it right the first time, until in that retelling, they convince themselves, it was they who stood alone against the crowd, and saw that justice prevailed that day.
But that’s not how God sees it.
posted by Mike Hu @ 8:03 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
As long as the secularists can make it specific -- about some improbable deity not like everybody else, then the lesson is not universal and valuable to all -- to ask of themselves, "What would I do?"
That's why "liberals" are such hypocrites, proclaiming how noble they are, when they are usually to be caught up in the lynch mobs, yelling in the cameras, "Crucify him!" -- as their 15 minutes of fame they will not pass up.
The mass media knows how to exploit such indivdiduals -- who can never turn down a chance for a vicious personal attacks that make them the day's mass media icons.
Power is a test of leadership.
Most people given power, will self-destruct because they have not prepared all their lives to handle it. The true leader will know how to make the most of that opportunity — and not abuse it, thinking that it is their entitlement.
In this vein, the proper strategy for those who win the lottery is to receive the winnings over a longer time — during which they can learn how to manage wealth and prosperity rather than having it dumped into their laps in a lump sum, when they are not prepared to deal with it — usually causing them to quickly be in a worse position than before.
A hundred million at once is definitely not going to make them better off than a million a year for the next fifty years will — and they will have something to look forward to each year also. The science of happiness and prosperity is not difficult — unless one gets greedy.
Those who get greedy, are those not used to handling power or any good fortune — and thus, it will reveal the person they are. Most people are not great people and are destroyed by the power that makes a rare few the leaders they reveal themselves to be.
That’s the fallacy of such studies — purporting to observe greed, or power, happiness, or some other generalization. Individuals respond individually and uniquely — depending on the person they are and reveal themselves to be. That is the important discovery.
Winners find a way to win — and make the best of every circumstance, while losers will lose no matter how advantageous their situation. Unfortunately, that’s not what they’re studying and so miss the greater significance entirely — and argue and debate strenuously over that which is not important to identify.
Power corrupts those who are corruptible.
Those of honesty and integrity are not corruptible; that’s what one should learn — and not that power corrupts everyone equally. That’s what the corruptible would like everyone to believe — and so that is their excuse for being so corrupted.
Those of despicable behavior will always claim, “Everybody else does it, why shouldn’t I?”
Everyone doesn’t — but that’s what they would like everyone to believe, to excuse their inexcusable behaviors, ie., liberal hypocrisy.
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