Good Friday in Quito

The Great Power of Jesus

(I found this crowd shot on the internet but the rest of the photos are ours.)

Quito, Ecuador, has an enormous, grueling Good Friday file-mile procession, second only to the famous one in Spain.  The prevailing religion in Ecuador is a mix of indigenous superstition and Roman Catholicism that results in their overwhelming desire to earn God’s redemption and ward off evil spirits at the same time.  (The shaman priest influence.)  Thus, their rituals are always extreme and sometimes bizarre to evangelical Christians.

Today Stan, Mary and the NILI students attended a huge procession called The Great Power of Jesus in which a crowd of tens of thousands gathers in the narrow streets of Quito Colonial.  Biblical events leading up to the crucifixion are enacted in the streets complete with Christ figures and roman guards.  In addition, a huge group of cucuruchos joins the procession (they’re the ones in purple).

As penitents, the cucuruchos suffer to show sorrow for their sins and earn their salvation.  They wear barbed wire or strap a cactus to their bare back.  Others carry branches of nettles (a stingy plant) or knotted rope to hit against their skin.  Many strap on large crosses to their back or at least carry a large post on their shoulders.  Most walk barefoot causing blisters and sometimes bleeding.  Small boys participate as well.

It’s an emotional event to watch, and Mary’s thoughts were mixed.  Watching the procession, she got a better feel for what Jesus must have went through, and you can’t watch that as a believer and not be moved.  On the other hand, the participant’s intense suffering saddened her.  They clearly didn’t understand that Christ took on the suffering of the world so that, by His grace, we only have to believe in and receive the gift of salvation.

Our western culture doesn’t want to be confronted with Christ’s suffering.  We acknowledge it but we don’t meditate or dwell on it.  We only want to focus on Easter Sunday.  But obviously, we couldn’t have Easter Sunday without Good Friday.

The Message of the Seven Words

Tonight, our family will attend a Good Friday service called the Message of the Seven Words.  This is a tradition that I’ve come to appreciate.  The service is broken into seven sections; each section focuses on one of the last expressions of Christ such as “Father, forgive them…” and “I thirst,” etc.  A different person gives a short talk on the significance of each phrase.  Christ’s last expressions communicate His side of the story, and it’s a wonderful way focus on the passion of Christ.  A special highlight will be Mary singing “The Wonderful Cross” in Spanish.