I've come to believe that God didn't need the Crucifixion. Mankind needed a tangible proof of punative retribution. Humans crave that. We have a desire to see someone punished, not just for crimes, but for any and all infractions we choose to demonize and hate as "other." And, it is we who refuse to accept that the God who is love… the God of grace and author of agape love… the God of forgiveness and salvation has never needed nor desired to mete out forever retribution.

It’s right there among Jesus’ final words. It wasn’t “Father, I forgive You.” It was, “Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do.”

Humankind also refuses to accept that we are the authors of that forever punative retribution. We refuse to acknowledge that blackness in us. So, we lay the blame at God's door.