Turn the key and push the door.
Get out here, he shouted.
But I stayed there on the floor, frozen in the terror that rose and filled
my brain.
For I knew what they intended, I could not face the pain.
Then soldiers came into the cell and they dragged me to the yard.
They threw me down before a cross, rocked the whip down hard.
Carry it, they shouted, as I struggled to my feet.
I put my shoulder under it and dragged it to the street.
I stumbled through a wall of screams as they drove me through the gate.
It seemed that thousands lined the streets, their voices filled with hate,
like a wolf pack in the night that moves in for the kill.
They closed the gap and fought us as we started up the hill.
And it seemed I'd barely reached the top when they grabbed me from behind.
They threw the cross down under me and tied the ropes that bind the arms close to
the beams as they nailed the feet and hands.
And they raised the cross up in the air and dropped it in its stand.
Through
a blur of pain, I saw the cross there next to mine.
There were people all around it, so I looked to read the sign.
It was nailed there up above his head so the world could see the news that the man
who seemed so helpless there was the king of all the Jews.
And the crowd that stood around his cross made jokes about his name.
They shouted, laughed, and spat on him, so I joined in the game.
I said, hey, if you're the king, why don't you get us down from here?
But the taunt just sounded hollow.
It echoed
in my ears.
Because he looked at me with eyes that seemed to reach into my heart.
They shone a light on all my lies and tore my life apart.
There was more that lay behind that gaze than simply blood and clay.
But knowing was too much for me.
I had to look away, but I chanced another look at him while he was looking down,
where the soldiers who just crucified us drank there on the ground.
And although he spoke them quietly, somehow his words came through.
He said, Father,
please forgive them.
They don't know what they do.
Then as if they'd heard him speak, the crowd began to roar, whipped to frenzy
by the priests who urged them on to more.
But the worse the accusations, now the plainer I could see.
The guilt, the accusers, not the one there next to me.
But the man upon the other cross began to curse and swear.
And his voice was filled with venom as he hurled it through the air.
All the horror that was in him and had laid his life to waste came out in every
syllable.
He flung in Jesus' face and Jesus only looked at him.
But something rose inside of me in spite of all that watched us there.
It couldn't be denied because his righteousness and innocence were shining
bright and strong.
I just couldn't keep my silence if that cursing still went on.
I cried out, don't you fear the wrath of God even at the end.
He'll curse us both into the pit.
Is that what you intend?
We're only getting what we're due.
We've sinned our whole lives long.
But don't you talk to him that way, because he's done nothing wrong.
All
my courage in a voice not quite my own.
I asked him, Lord, remember me when you come into your throne.
He answered me, and even then his love was undisguised.
He said, before the sun has set today, you'll be with me in paradise.
The shouts and curses did not stop even when the sunlight ceased.
But somehow in the midst of it, my soul had been released.
And though the agony continued, it was still too small a price to be
allowed to hear those words and to die beside the Christ.
The darkness
changed to dawning, and I heard the sound of voices.
The air was warm around me.
I stood beside a stream,
and Abraham was speaking to the multitudes before him, the unfolding of the answer to
our prayers and hopes and dreams.
Then far across the chasm came a rumbling like the thunder, and the Prince of Peace
came shining from his mouth the power stream.
And the walls and towers crumbled, and the gates of hell went under as
thousands sang the victory we have been redeemed.
Jesus is the Lord of all.
We have been redeemed.
Jesus is the Lord of all.
We have been redeemed.
Joy, joy, joy.
Jesus is the Lord of all.
We have been redeemed.