A waste? Or Surprise! I'm alive!

Nothin in all the history of paganism comes anywhere near this combinatlon of event, intention, and meaning. Nothing in Judaism had prepared for it, except in puzzling, shadowy prophecy. The death of Jesus of Nazareth as the king of the jews, the bearer of Israel’s destiny, the fulfillment of God’s promises to his people of old, is either the most stupid, senseless waste and misunderstanding the world has ever seen, or it is the fulcrum around which world history turns.

Christianity is based on the belief that it was and is the latter.—N. T. Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense, 111