ON that first Good Friday, almost 2,000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth was – to the passers-by – just another criminal who had fallen foul of the brutal Roman occupation and would die on a cross on a lonely hill on the outskirts of the city.

But three days later, when his friends reported that he had risen from the dead and began appearing to them, it set in motion a journey of faith that has shaped world history ever since.

Today, about one in three people in the world describes themselves as Christian, and many of our societies – even when they protest that they are secular – are shaped by fundamental Christian values.

Jesus came to the Middle East at a time of turmoil, and his death changed the world forever. But it would be a mistake to see Calvary as a faraway setting for a story of 20 centuries ago.

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All across the Middle East today, people live under the shadow of the cross and many who are living their own long Good Friday must surely wonder if the light of Easter will ever penetrate the darkness.

In Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Israel and other parts of the region, families huddle together wondering – as they hear the sound of the drone or ballistic........

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