"Good" Friday

A lot of times people get caught up in Jesus' suffering as being necessary for our redemption--that God had to punish someone innocent to make our sins go away. To my mind, what is more important to remember about Good Friday is that God, in human form, never stepped out of the experience to say "I don't have to go through this suffering, I'll use my divine powers to get out of it." God suffered with us then, and in our deepest pain suffers with us now. That's the good news of "Good" Friday.