How is it possible to believe, how can anyone believe without fear and trembling that all of God was present in a man? Who can believe that God incarnate is dying on a cross? No reasonable being can accept such an implausible and frightening revelation, the impact of which always makes one reassess everything. – Jacques Ellul, If You Are the Son of God

On this Good Friday I am remembering a visit a few years ago to a crucifix museum in rural Germany. Hundreds of crucifixes, some centuries old, depicting the suffering of Jesus Christ upon a Roman cross. Art meets devotion.

My favorite though was not one of the older crucifixes but modern one, with a message foreshadowing Easter. An empty cross, with a crown of thorns at the base, a note inside reading in German: “I’m not reachable by phone or by email.”

To me this one implied the Easter message: “He is not here, he is risen.”

If you don’t know the story, Jesus voluntarily suffered and died so that we might have a relationship with God. You can find the details in The Bible (or send me an email if that sems to daunting),

Does it make sense? Absolutely not, when you look at it in human terms. We try to avoid suffering, we don’t go looking for it, even if it will benefit someone else.

The whole thing is a mystery, in the Biblical sense of the word, an event of awe and wonder that we do not yet understand fully. It happened; it is part of history, but the implications are difficult to grasp completely.

Good Friday without Easter Sunday would be just a minor footnote in the history books. Jesus death would have been meaningless without his resurrection.

That empty tomb makes it possible to seriously contemplate that God indeed was present in the man Jesus, that God incarnate did die on a cross.

It is indeed an implausible and frightening revelation – none the less true for being implausible.

As a reasonable being, have you taken the time to reassess just what Good Friday (and Easter Sunday) means for how you live your life? If not, what are you waiting for?