I will never forget standing before that burning house, holding the hand of the teenager watching as they carried her father's body out of the house, draped over by a sheet so that the family wouldn't have to look at the stark reality of death. Years later, another teenager had another question. She was a member of the church I then served and, like many teenagers, refused to accept cliches. I didn't have an answer. I don't remember the names of either teenage girl.
Years have a way of erasing some things that are very important.
I wish I could remember because I now have the answers to both of their questions. Jesus had to die because evil cannot stand in the face of good. A woman once told me that hated her sister. Christ's absolute purity was an absolute threat to the evil, ugliness and hatred in the world. At the crucifixion, Evil prepared a cross.