Custom and location dictate the name of the Friday before Easter. Here, in Germany, it is called Karfreitag. The word derives from Old High German 'kara',which means grief or mourning. It is the day of the crucifixion of a holy man. l would have preferred the story of Jesus to have ended with him sitting under a tree, teaching. If you read what he said, without the commentary, without the choirs of angels, devils and demons, you have a moral philosophy, a moral philosophy not much different from that of Gautama, the Enlightened Teacher. l would prefer to see Jesus portrayed among the children, the poor, and the sick, healing and teaching and loving. That's the way he spent his days on earth. Unfortunately, his country was occupied by Roman Legions, supported by jealous priests who preached a doctrine of fear. Jesus offered liberation from fear and guilt. Not many Hebrews, or Romans, were willing to take a chance on him. I'd like to know more about those who did. Not much of the original teaching seems to have survived. The longest texts are the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon on thu Plain.
l sat down one Good Friday forty years ago and read all four accounts of the Passion. That was my last day of Bible study, I turned my focus to St. John of the Cross, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Merton, and eventually Daisetz Suzuki who accidently led me to Shunryu Suzuki. The last two gave me the image l needed to accept the idea of life without props.
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