The Crucifixion

For Good Friday, here's an article from Slate.com about the historical meaning of the cross and the "foolishness" - and perhaps the full meaning - that has been lost over time.

Jesus' crucifixion represented a collision between Jesus and Roman governmental
authority, an obvious liability to early Christian efforts to promote their
faith. Yet, remarkably, they somehow succeeded. Centuries of subsequent
Christian tradition have made the image of the crucified Jesus so familiar that
the offensiveness of the event that it portrays has been almost completely lost.