XI   Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross

Yet ours were the sufferings he was bearing,
ours the sorrows he was carrying,
while we thought of him as someone being punished and struck with affliction by God;
whereas he was being wounded for our rebellions,
crushed because or our guilt;
Isaiah 53:4-5

	I What possible words can come to this brain? The image overwhelms much this eyed mind. 'Jesus is nailed to the cross' - stark refrain. 'Jesus is nailed to the cross' - love defined. 'Jesus is nailed to the cross' - sacrifice. The pictures here that play in quick melange unite with knowledge, merge with rites precise of sin atonement. Here the small phalange of Roman troops perform as Aaron's priest who when the time had come did bind the lamb to slit its throat. For sin, the blood of beast was spilt. Now 'tis you, child of Bethlehem. Upon the cross the Romans drop you down. Raw back hits splinters; dogwood strikes thorned crown.

Yahweh, how countless are my enemies,
how countless those who rise up against me,
how countless those who say to me,
"No salvation for him from his God!"
Psalm 3:1,2
II
The mallet's raised. Against flesh rests a nail.
The soldier pounds it through into the grain;
again, twice more. With poles and ropes they strain
to raise the burdened cross. The people hail
their progress. As the beams rise up to scale
the sky into four corners, comes a rain
of shouts that reach their peak with sight of pain
on Him. When the cross drops in place, they rail.
"Oh, your God's son? Well, if you are his son
then save yourself and from that cross come down."
"You are our King" an elder scribe pokes fun,
"Come down and we'll believe, and bring your crown."
-Love's laughter met the child who left the womb;
-Here, haughty taunts, as you await the tomb.


What are human beings that you spare a thought for them,
or the child of Adam that you care for him?
Psalm 8:4
III

What matters it, if we are born at all? We are but breaths, faint swirls of smoke, we fade then cease to stir that dust of which we're made. We dream a future in our minds, recall the past to muse, then let the present sprawl between lost years. Too soon we're bound to trade this life's faint light for cold death's somber shade. So why take breath if to the void we fall? Yet there He hangs receiving ridicule from us mere whispers in eternal time. What is in us that does compassion fuel that He still loves us far beyond our crime? Our fleeting breaths possess a spark of love. To feed its flame, our Lord suffers above.                                             © E. David

Station I: Jesus is Condemned   Station II: Jesus Accepts the Cross     Station III: Jesus Falls the First Time   Station IV: Jesus Meets His Mother     Station V: Simon of Cyrene Carries the Cross  Station VI: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus   Station VII: Jesus Falls the Second Time   Station VIII: Jesus Meets the Women     Station IX: Jesus Falls the Third Time   Station X: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments   Station XI: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross   Station XII: Jesus Dies   Station XIII: Jesus is Taken from the Cross   Station XIV: Jesus is Placed in the Tomb e-mail HOME