I remember as a child looking at the crucifix and I had to tell myself he did all this for me.

This is a terrible burden to have.

Hello, I'm Neil McGregor, and in this series of podcasts, I'm looking at objects to see how shared beliefs have helped shape societies.

Now we're focusing on images.

This episode is about images that are meant to move us and change the way we live. This is the BBC.

Oh my people, what did I do to you?

How have I offended you?

Answer me.

These are the improprietia, the reproaches, part of the liturgy used in Catholic churches on Good Friday.

I led you out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom,

but you led your Savior to the cross.

This is where God rebukes his people

for continually failing to respond to his loving guidance over the generations.

When I was thirsty, you gave me vinegar to drink,

and you pierced your saviour with a lance.

They remind us of the extraordinary centrality in Western Christianity

of a single, highly charged image,

Christ hanging, dying or dead on the cross.

And of the idea that we, sinful humanity,

are responsible for his anguish.

What he is enduring, the Good Friday reproaches tell us,

is a consequence of what we have done,

...