"Western Christianity claims we are saved by the execution, that violence and terror reveal the grace of God. This claim isolates Jesus, as violence isolates its victims.

When the victims of violence are made singular, solitary, unprecedented in their pain, the power of violence remains.

Jesus' death was not unique. The torture inflicted on Jesus had been visited on many. It continues in the world, masked by the words 'virtuous suffering' and

'self-sacrificing love.'

We cannot say what would have happened if Jesus had not been murdered, but unjust, violent death is traumatizing. His community retained the scars and limitations of those who survive violence.

Christianity bears the marks of unresolved trauma. Jesus' resurrection and the continuation of his movement are not triumphs, but a glimpse of the power of survival, of the embers that survive the deluge."

- Rita Nakashima Brock & Rebecca Ann Parker
Proverbs of Ashes #GoodFriday