The absolute silence was so loud it was deafening. Could this really be happening? Even if things went on as they always did, the truth was that the man they looked to was dead. He had promised so much. A new life. Hope. Peace. Joy in the midst of pain. And an eternity with God the Father. He said He alone was the path to heaven. He said following Him was a very narrow path but He was the only truth. The self-proclaimed king promised He was the one to give real life when the world only offered a counterfeit in an attempt to steal their lives and their future. Shockingly, the very people he'd come to love and care for betrayed him. At the direction of the authorities, the soldiers beat him to a bloody pulp. He was so weak, so broken, so physically shattered, that a man pulled out from the crowd was "recruited" to carry his cross. The very cross that he would hang on next to two common criminals. All he had done was challenge the system and offer freedom. But people didn't like that, so he paid the ultimate price. Spikes were pound into his hands and feet. Then he was raised up as if on display to those watching. Both his mother and his best friend watched with a mix of deep sorrow and confusion. The weather shifted, and the sky blackened as if in response to what was happening on the earth below. As he bled until the end, he asked his Heavenly Father to forgive them. His famous last words seemed odd: "It is finished." Those who followed him went home broken hearted.
(Copyright Mark Taft.)
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