A couple of thoughts...

I commemorate Passover-I believe that we are still required by God to observe the Holy Days especially if we dare to call ourselves Christian. The Passover is the retelling of the Great Exodus, our salvation from slavery in Egypt. The Passover story is a much reminder of the First Commandmant-

"I am the Lord, your God, who led you from bondage. You will have no other before me."

So I am reading the news this morning and am disappointed to read that because of the unhealthy spin some Christian congregations are putting on the Seder, rabbis are speaking out against Christian celebrations of the Passover.

"I came not to abolish the law, but to uphold it!" Jesus said a lot of things, but to me the two most important (and sadly, the two least noted) things he said were that he DID NOT come to tear down the law-sorry Saul, AKA St. Paul (of the miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus). He also, when asked which of the Commandmants were the most important, made clear that he DID NOT consider himself a deity-"Hear O' Israel, the Lord our God is one, there is no other..."

Can't say as I blame the good rabbis.

ALSO; this so called Gospel of Judas. OK, I'm just going to ask one question-am I the only person on the planet who gets that this is just so much steer manure?

OK, so the paper can be dated back, big woo.

OK, so it is unfortunately true that the Roman church has continued suppressing early texts in a drive to control what we know about the early church; this suppression has had horrific consequences starting with a deeply divisive mistrust in a lot of good people of anyone wearing a red hat.

But much of the New Testament they let us have access to has been archaeologically vindicated-do we need mention the Old Testament vindications too?-so how come this document is the only one that has ever been found that spins Judas into a hero? Why do NONE of the Gnostic Gospels make any effort to 'justify' Judas Iscariot?

Instead, for nearly two thousand years, his name has been the textbook definition of rat bastard. Gee, I wonder why...

And now, finally, it is once again Good Friday.

I was in Rome, but we'd heard of this Jesus bar Joseph ben David, of course. He was becoming a political threat, being of the House of David-the Caesars owed his house a lot of back taxes for one thing.

(You don't have to believe me, look it up kid, it was called tribute. Kind of like rent the Caesars paid to the real kings of the land they were occupying. What, you've not read the Bible? You don't know that Herod was a distant cousin, placed on throne of David by the Caesars to keep some really pissed off young Jewish guys from starting the Mossad a couple of thousand years early? Ya know, those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it. At the very least, when you think, well, OK, Jesus died for us once...trust me, logic won't follow this time. Jesus was very clear about what would happen the next time he came here...)

And about the only thing that I can say, having been in Rome, and not at Golgatha, is that although it has been very nearly two thousand years, I promise you that Jesus was not on the cross a mere three hours.

As recently as my early years in this lifetime, I was taught that he was crucified on WEDNESDAY morning shortly after sunrise, and was hanging there from that day until just after the noonday on FRIDAY. I went along with it because I knew it was true. I was really surprised and frankly frightened when all of a sudden people starting saying he was only up there for three hours, instead of the three days that he really was.

I remember it quite well. There were all manner of rumours..."Well, someone must have helped him along, my dears, certainly no healthy strapping man as he was would have died so quickly!" "Must be a defect in the bloodline for him to have died so quickly-we have done the House a favour, exposing the weakness!"

The centurion talked, oh course he did, and the story of the repentant degenerate spread faster than Nero's little BBQ fire to come. Most of us who were secretly rejoicing that the Chosen One had at last come held fast in our mourning to the story as a hope of forgiveness. I don't recall precisely the savage's crime, just that it was an unspeakable thing to have earned him death by crucifixion. (Probably animal or child rape...OK, NOW do you get why that manner of execution was so horrific?) But he was forgiven, because he was utterly repentant, and the Christ made it known through the centurion. Who disappeared soon after, it being let out that he had gone mad and went raving into the desert never to be seen again...

To say the Christ's suffering was a mere three hours is to make a vanity indeed of the tremendous sacrifice he made for you, and for me, and for all of us. He could have been saved from it had he but asked! But he knew the awesome miracle of the rescue would enslave you forever-Jesus died on the cross to PRESERVE YOUR FREEDOM TO CHOOSE!

(I am so very nauseated by the non-thinking who claim his murder was a proscribed bloodbath for their filthy sins! How primitive, how pagan, how convenient for those who want to claim his name while whoring right up to the last second of breath!)

Finally, what he is supposed to have said as he died is this:

"O' my Father, it is finished. Into thy hands I commit my spirit. LORD, OH LORD, WHY DO THEY FORSAKE YOU?"