We find it repulsive. We don't want to think of sharp blades, bleating animals, a fountain of blood. We want our meat clean and cello-wrapped. Preferably on sale.
The priests in the Old Testament understood what slaughter was like. Most folks in the world understand what slaughter is like. They understand the mess. They understand death. They understand the exchange of life for life.
This is the focal point of the Seder Meal. That dead lamb on the table could have been me but God spared me because I had blood covering my door. The Angel of Death passed by.
We have forgotten how real the slaughter of Jesus was. The Mel Gibson's film the Passion was so real that it angered most of the world.
We want a clean sacrificed Jesus with a nice white sheet looking like he is tired not dead. We don't want to dwell on thorns, spit, punching, nails, hammers, spears, whips, and blood pouring out.
We want an American presentation of a sacrificed Jesus, not the reality of a slaughtered sacrificial lamb.
Yes, he had to die for me but get it over quickly. I don't want to deal with the punishment and anger of God for my sins. Give me Sunday, give we white colors, give me hats, let me think of anything but what I deserve.
And Jesus endured it all without sound, without crying out. Why? It was the promise his father made to Abram.
In Genesis Chapter 15 we read that God made a covenant with Abram following the pattern of the Ancient Near East. They would cut an animal in half and each pass through symbolically saying if I break my bargain you may do this to me. That night only God passed through the carcasses. He knew that a man could never keep his part of the bargain.
God kept his promise and more. He gave us the blessing of the promise and bore the wrath of our breaking it. Jesus upon the cross was cut in half instead of us.
That is why it is Good Friday.
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