I smiled guiltily the
first time I saw this image. It was as though the artist could see into my
heart. I admit to this because many years ago, I really, really, really
wished this was what happened at the Cross. I wasn’t comfortable with the
humiliation, shame and pain that Jesus had to go through in the hands of those
vile Roman soldiers and Jewish leaders.
When the High Priest
asked that Paul be smitten he got a terse, acidic reply from the Apostle, (Acts
21:1-3);
When King Jeroboam
merely assayed to arrest a prophet his arm froze dead (1Kg 13:1-4);
Yet my Lord was spat
upon, slapped, flogged, mocked and crucified. And nothing happened.
In my childish mind, I
had actually fantasized about this Cross-breaking Jesus: after he has been
scourged mocked and crucified, just when they though they’ve given Him the most
public of all humiliation, they hear a...
CRACK!!!
Centurion: What was
that?
Soldier (stammering):
It’s, it’s the cross sir.
Centurion: The cross
what?
Soldier: The cross,
the man has broken his cross!
(camera pans from
centurion to the Christ on the Cross, all muscularly pumped up; he slowly
descends to the ground – Iron Man levitating style... and crouches (picture the
iconic crouching image of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator
movies);
There’s confusion
everywhere: the soldiers are running around, the women are screaming and
pointing at the silent Christ, the Pharisees and High Priest are struck with
fear knowing that they have gone too far this time;
Jesus rises and looks
around at them all:
“Thou dareth crucify Me?”
He thunders;
“Dost thou know who I
am? I AM the Son of the Living God! NOBODY can touch me!
Then, partly out of
madness and partly out of fear, the soldiers rush in on Jesus. Screaming
defiantly with weapons raised, they descend on Him; hundreds and hundreds of
them...
The battle will be
EPIC!
Jesus Christ the
SUPERMAN, Jesus the faster-than-FLASH, more-powerful-than-HULK,
more-awesome-than-THOR Christ; against all the Roman soldiers.
It would have been an
awesome battle...
“AND YOU WILL STILL BE DEAD IN YOUR SINS TODAY
AND DESTINED FOR HELL”, Said a
voice in my spirit, abruptly cutting my fantasy short.
“That is exactly what
Satan wanted Him to do when he instigated the people around Him to provoke Him
with mockery and jeering” (Mat 27:39-49).
“He wanted Him to get
down from the Cross because that would have been his (Satan’s) way of
doing things.”
“Satan’s way is all
about
·
proving a POINT,
·
SHOWing them
·
telling THEM
·
etc.
MY way, on the other
hand, is always LOVE”.
“Allowing myself to be
crucified may look foolish and weak, but 1Cor 1:25 says, the foolishness of
God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men”.
I felt terrible about
my fantasy after that Divine rebuke; because it seemed that it was I
now who was making mockery of God’s weakness.
I turned back to the
Cross…
CRACK!!!
What was that?
It’s the heart of Jesus,
broken in sorrow for me: “Father, forgive him; for he knows not what he
does”. (Lk 23:34)
Use this moment to
thank Jesus, for obeying the Father’s will to the very last. If He didn’t, we
wouldn’t be here today.
AMEN
More Blessings await
you; you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.
GREG ELKAN
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