#13 Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross

Jesus,

You died.

Your followers believed in you.

They believed you were God.

But you died.  

The soldiers verified that you died.

The high priests and elders went back to their religious celebration.

The people were gone.... back to their holiday dinner.

And your friends, frightened for their lives, felt betrayed by you.

Your mother was there.

And the ones who remained with you throughout this nightmare of a day

The others came creeping back when the crowds dispersed.

They were broken, their dreams destroyed

But they loved you, Jesus.

They lovingly brought your body down from that cross and claimed it as their own.

They did not understand what had happened but they loved you anyway.  

Even now........   when they were absolutely sure......   that you could NOT be the long-awaited Messiah.

Jesus,

When I think about all the people on that day.... the oblivious holiday revelers, the worried high priests and elders, the Romans who just wanted to make sure there were no riots, the grieving women, the frightened friends who came back at the end.... I wonder who I would have been.  In my life, I have been all of them.  Of course, I would want to be one of the loyal ones who stayed with you all the way.   But I would also like to be one of the frightened friends.... who loved you enough to come back for forgiveness... because we know that you forgive.  You show us how to love and forgive.... the feeling of being forgiven is only outweighed by the feeling of forgiving... you show us that too.  Help me to love like you do!

Amen!



#14 Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

#12 Jesus Dies on the Cross

This is it, Jesus.

Mid-afternoon on that terrible day

I am tired from my early walk and I am hungry.  My stomach churns as I contemplate what has happened to you.

It all comes down to right here, right now.

Where are your friends, Jesus?  Are you thinking of them?

Do you wonder if they will believe in you after you are killed?

Do you feel the despair that would fill any of us?

Of course you did.  The solitude of despair is part of the human condition

The world stopped as you breathed your last breath

Jesus,

  Did anyone there that day really know what was happening?  Their savior was killed.  The Romans and the high priest would be looking for your friends.  When you died, your followers were lost.  Everything they believed in, everything they thought about you, came crashing down around their heads.  What happened that day was beyond their understanding.... just like it is now for us.  Incomprehensible love.  Help me to love when I don't understand what is happening to me!

Amen.

#13 Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross

# 11 Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

And now the time for your execution has come.

You are at the end.

The Roman soldiers put your body on that cross you carried

Everyone is in a hurry to make sure you die before sundown so the people can get on with their holy feast so they nail your feet together.

What were you thinking as they manhandled you?

And then the inhuman spikes driven through your limbs

Did you hear the thieves beside you being fastened to their crosses?

Was all the noise a blur because of the shock to your body?

Oh Jesus,

  I am not strong enough to even think of a way that I might be able to allow someone to nail me to a cross.  If it happened to me, it would not be voluntary... and I think I would probably be in enough shock that I would miss some of the cruelty.  But you didn't miss any of it, did you?  Being God, you were aware of everything.  And you let it happen so that you could share our story with us.  Thank you for loving us so much that you became one of us.  Help me to understand the love that is so great that it would allow me to put myself last for the good of others.

Amen!

#12 Jesus Dies on the Cross