Tears of agony stream down His face and drops of blood emerge from his skin as He kneels in the garden. “Father,” He prays, “if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will but Yours, be done.”
Dread of what He knows must and will happen fills Him as He is betrayed by one of His own and dragged away by Roman soldiers and is tried and condemned to be crucified.
He screams in pain as the sharp, biting objects dig into his skin and are ripped out again, tearing His flesh and causing blood to pour down His back.
He winces as they shove a crown of thorns on His head and mock Him, laughing, slapping, spitting in His face.
He stumbles from weakness as He carries the heavy cross down the long road, the soldiers beating and urging Him, the crowd staring and gaping at Him.
Intense pain surges through Him as nails are driven into His hands and feet.
He gasps for breath as He hangs on the crude cross.
Shame comes over Him as He is displayed naked for everyone to see and He takes the sin, the evil, the darkness of the world upon Himself.
Loneliness and emptiness fill Him as His Father turns His back on Him, unable to look upon such sin and filthiness.
Forgiveness was granted as He looked upon the corrupted crowd, as He thought of me, of you, of every nasty sin that we would commit and said “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
That is a true story. This Man came to earth, lived among us, healed us, did miracles, fed us, taught us... and then we killed Him. And He took death. He could have stopped it. He didn’t have to do it. But He wanted to. He wanted to die for you. He did die for you. To take your punishment, your blame. To pay the price for your sins. He felt the agony, the fear, the loneliness, the emptiness, the shame... In our Easter Program, I play the part of a teenage girl who is caught cutting, and when asked why I do it, I say “You don’t understand! You can’t imagine how I feel! Nobody does. No one understands me. Nobody cares. I hate myself!” I think there are a lot of people who feel that way. Perhaps you’ve found yourself saying something similar to that. I have... “no one understands...” That’s not true, though. This Man, Jesus, understands. He took your pain. He died for you. But that’s not the end of the story. He was buried, and after three days, He rose from the dead! He is now alive in Heaven.
He died for you. Will you live for Him?
Imagine this: Someone grabs your arm. “There you are!” he screams. You look up and into the cold, cruel eyes of a soldier. “You’re coming with me!” he growls as he jerks you up and drags you away.
What did I do? you wonder.
You are taken to court.
“Do you know why you are here?” You are asked.
“N-no, I.. I don’t,” You mumble.
“Do you remember the time your parents told you to clean your room, and you played instead?”
“What?! That was when I was like, three years old!” You say in disbelief and shock.
“How about the time you promised your friend you would keep their secret, and then went and told that other friend?”
“My other friend promised, too.”
“Or the time that you were rude to your little sister, for no reason?”
“No reason? Yeah, right, she was being such a brat...”
“Listen, we have a whole list here. Would you just like to see it?”
After hesitating a moment, you slowly take the list in your hands and look over it. Your eyes widen as you scan a long list of wrong things you have done, starting from when you were very little, up to today. You can’t believe they could possibly know all those things even you had forgotten about. And did they really consider all those things wrong? You know they weren’t really right, but everyone does them! They weren’t that bad.
“You are condemned to... death!” Your thoughts are interrupted. The judge’s words ring in your ears. You can’t believe what you are hearing. You knew you had done wrong things, but hadn’t everyone? Were they going to kill everyone? Images started to fill your mind of horrible deaths, pain, shame....
You are interrupted from your thoughts once again by a deep voice saying, “No. Let me die.”
Shock becoming almost a familiar feeling, you look up and see a man step forward. You’ve never seen him before, you don’t know him.
“You would die for this girl?” the judge asks.
“Yes, I will die for her.”
You watch as he is put to death for you. And then you... forget about him? Stay angry at him? Resent him? Ignore him? I don’t think so! Wouldn’t you honor him in your heart, and tell others what he did for you? You would accept him and be thankful for what he did.
Jesus did that, and more. Yet so many people ignore Him or resent Him.
He died for you. Will you live for Him?
Comments
Mar. 21, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Hriste
That is a very good post. You captured His grace to us in just the right way.
Mar. 21, 2008 - Wow!
Posted by crochetcrazy
That is great! May I repost it?
You have a neat blog, I'm glad I found it!
~Renee
Romane 5:8
Mar. 21, 2008 - Of Course!
Posted by crochetcrazy
I'm so glad I can repost it! My blog is in need of a new post. I will provide a link to your blog and say that you wrote it, because you did!
~Renee
Romans 5:8
Mar. 22, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by crochetcrazy
You're welcome!
~Renee
Romans 5:8
Apr. 23, 2008 - I love it!
Posted by Anonymous
Hi! I know this is an older post, but I just found your blog (by going to many different blogs) and I really enjoyed reading what you have written. I especially like this last one. I was wondering if I could post it on my blog (www.chipthelizard.blogspot.com). I don't know if you will ever read this, but I won't post it until you say I can:).
~Christina
Apr. 24, 2008 - Thank you!
Posted by Christina
Thank you so much. I love all your writing--the poems are great! God has blessed you with that talent. My mom says mine is art--which I love. I also love to write (letters) but I am not very good with stories--and terrible at poems.
I am really glad I found your blog. (thanks again)
~Christina