The Fulcrum of History

"When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left ... And when it was about noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the Temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.' Having said this, he breathed his last."

- Luke 23:33, 44-46

"If any of our own people inquire, not from love of debate from from love of learning, why he suffered death in none other way save on the cross, let him be told that no other way than this was good for us, and that it was well that the Lord suffered this for our sakes. For if he came himself to bear the curse laid upon us, how else could he have 'become a curse,' unless he received the death set for a curse? And that is the cross. For this is exactly what is written: 'Cursed is he that hangeth on a tree' [Deuteronomy 21:23].

"Again, if the Lord's death is the ransom of all, and by his death 'the middle wall of partition' is broken down, and the calling of the nations is brought about, how would he have called us to him, had he not been crucified? For it is only on the cross that a man dies with his hands spread out. Whence it was fitting for the Lord to bear this also and to spread out his hands, that with the one he might draw the ancient people, and with the other those from the Gentiles, and unite both in himself. For this is what he himself has said, signifying by what manner of death he was ransom to all: 'I, when I am lifted up,' he says, 'shall draw all men unto me.'"

- Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 25

"This, according to my view, is the subjection of Christ, namely, the fulfilling of the Father's will. But as the Son subjects all to the Father, so does the Father to the Son, the one by his work, the other by his good pleasure, as we have already said. And thus he who subjects presents to God that which he has subjected, making our condition his own. Of the same kind, it appears to me, is the expression, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' It was not he who was forsaken either by the Father or by his own Godhead, as some have thought, as if it were afraid of the Passion, and therefore withdrew itself from him in his sufferings (for who compelled him either to be born on eart at all or to be lifted up on the cross?). But, as I said, he was in his own person representing us. For we were the forsaken and despised before, but now, by the sufferings of Him who could not suffer, we were taken up and saved."

- Gregory of Nazianzus, Fourth Theological Oration, 5

"God did not force Christ to die, there being no sin in him. Rather, he underwent death of his own accord, not out of an obedience consisting in the abandonment of his life, but out of an obedience consisting in his upholding righteousness so bravely and pertinaciously that as a result he incurred death."

- Anselm of Canterbury, Why God Became Man, 9

"Let me seek You in desiring You; let me desire You in seeking You; let me find You in loving You; let me love You in finding You ... For I do not seek to understand so that I may believe; rather, I believe so that I may understand. For I believe this also, that 'unless I believe, I shall not understand.'"

- Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion, 1

"For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority ... And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it."

- Colossians 2:9, 13-15

O Love Divine, What Hast Thou Done?

O Love divine, what has thou done!
The immortal God hath died for me!
The Father's co-eternal Son
bore all my sins upon the tree.
Th'immortal God for me hath died:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

Is crucified for me and you,
to bring us rebels back to God.
Believe, believe the record true,
ye all are bought with Jesus' blood.
Pardon for all flows from his side:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

Behold him, all ye that pass by,
the bleeding Prince of life and peace!
Come, sinners, see your Savior die,
and say, "Was ever grief like his?"
Come, feel with me his blood applied:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

- Charles Wesley, 1742

Good Friday

In On the Incarnation of the Word, St. Athanasius describes the crucifixion in a way that echoes the Scriptures:

"For the sun hid his face, and the earth quaked and the mountains were rent; all men were awed. Now these things showed that Christ on the cross was God, while all creation was his slave, and was witnessing by its fear to its master's presence."

When we celebrate Holy Communion each week, we proclaim the death that occurred for us on this day. It is a death that forgives, because in it Christ takes all the sin of creation into his own body. Thus, the death suffered by the incarnate Word is not just his own death, but ultimately ours as well. Athanasius continues,

"And so it was that two marvels came to pass at once, that the death of all was accomplished in the Lord's body, and that death and corruption were wholly done away by reason of the Word that was united with it."

May we all gather together this evening at the foot of the cross and bear witness to the crucifixion of our Lord. And may we keep the Easter vigil together.