Well, today is something many people call Good Friday. It sounds nice, I mean, how could it not be? It quite literally has GOOD in the name.
Well, today is the day that someone named Jesus of Nazareth was crucified by the Romans even though he did nothing wrong. The Jewish court found him guilty of blasphemy, yet there was no legal offense seen by the Roman court. A man named Pontius Pilate resolved to have him beaten, then to let him go. But that wasn't enough for the Jews.
Since the next day was the Passover, Pilate knew what he had to do. It was a tradition to let one prisoner go, one chosen by the Jews. Pilate brought up two men; the Nazarene and a murderer named Barrabus. (I don't know exactly how to spell that.)
They chose the murderer.
He was set free while Jesus was to be on the cross. The cross was no laughing matter; they could kill you right side up or upside down and the process could last for days. They would hang you up after beating you, people could watch and do whatever they want, as well as the fact that you would have to push yourself up with nails keeping you attached by the wrists/hands and the feet/ankles.
When they beat you beforehand, they would only give you 39 lashes. Why? Because that was just one less than fatal. They would bring you to the brink of death, and then bring you right. Jesus was to carry the patibulum of the cross, that would soon be attached to the cross itself. (The patibulum is the piece that your hands and wrists would be attached to.) This is more likely than having him carry the whole cross to Golgotha. (The place of the Skull.)
As said before, they hung you up on the cross and you would slowly die from hypovolemic shock (low blood volume) and Asphyxiation (loss of oxygen (My friend would be better at explaining this, but oh well.) (update the things in parentheses are what I called them and he fixed what they actually are) that's what killed the Nazarene at six hours one Friday.
The Nazarene never fought against it, no one could have asked for it any more than he had. No one wants to die a death like that, but this one man was willing to. The why to this question explains why this Friday is called Good Friday.
It was at 3 on the Friday that the Jews would sacrifice an animal and ring a bell so everyone could stop and repent of their sins. It was at 3 on the Friday that a Jew, the Son of God, would be sacrificed and the veil between the Holy of Holies, the seperation between humans and YHWH, would be ripped and people would have no need to sacrifice anything more. Their sins have been paid for. It was finished.
He died so we wouldn't have to pay for our own sins. No more birds and lambs being slain, only the blood of the precious lamb had paid for our debts. He did this so we would no longer be slaves.
And he would do it again, even if it was only for you.
