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By Matthew Fretwell

Here we are, Good Friday, known as such because humanity has reconciliation with God, through the sacrificial death of Christ upon the cross. By all means, this is good news and an embodied grace. Like the criminal on the cross, who had no way of getting down from it and completing even the minimalist kind of work to repay the gratitude which was given to him, is the grace of Christ. As the Lord proclaimed, “Today, you will be with me in paradise,” (Luke 23:43); this statement takes on a whole new meaning with His usage of one particular word—paradise. The word is derived from Persia, which denoted a nobleman, or king’s, garden. It is the same word utilized in Genesis 2 for the Garden of Eden. Jesus, full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:14), more than pardons the criminal, He proclaims a new creation and…