I wrote this letter to the editor in late March of 2005, shortly after Terry Schiavo died of starvation and dehydration at the hands of her husband, the courts, and her doctors. It was not published.

Editor,

It was the saddest Good Friday I’ve ever known–and the most illuminating. In an unspeakably heart-rending parable, God used the passion of his daughter Terri to show us afresh the passion of his Son.

Like Christ, Terri Schiavo was innocent, and silent as a lamb going to the slaughter.

Like Christ, she was betrayed, and that most treacherously by the very one who had vowed to protect her, in sickness and in health, till death should bid them part.

Like Christ, she was subjected to a mockery of a trial–rushed to execution by heartless ideologues intent only upon keeping their hands firmly on the levers of power.

Like Christ, she was abandoned by “friends” in high places, leaders who professed to love God and justice, but who ultimately caved in to a system controlled by prince of darkness himself.

Like Christ, she was delivered up to her tormentors; and when she cried, “I thirst,” not a single healer could be found.

Like Christ, she had a few true friends who sought with all their hearts to rescue her. In the end, they were compelled to look on–appalled and helpless–as the wheels of “justice” rolled over her body, expunging the life once for all.

It is written of Jesus Christ that he knew what was in man. Terri’s demise showed us: selfishness, unfaithfulness, cunning, pride, indolence, deceit, cowardice, heartlessness, and cruelty.

No hell is deep enough for creatures such as this. And yet, as the events of the first holy week proved, God loves us still, and promises to heal–for time and eternity–any who will come to His Son.

Let us respond quickly to the offer. For surely the Holy One of Israel will not suffer many more Good Fridays like this.

Dean Davis