Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Between Crucifixion and Resurrection...

I realize that I'm posting off schedule, but I got a little inspired today. I hope you like it.


He was the one. He was the Messiah. He was the one that was going to lead Israel back to prominence, back to God.

And now he’s gone.

I just can’t believe it. I saw him do things that I could believe. Even seeing them with my own eyes, I had to convince myself that I wasn’t dreaming. I saw him raise the dead, cast out demons, make bread out of nothing. I watched in amazement as he took the fever away from my wife’s mother, calmed storms, and walked on waves.

I heard him teach about getting back to God. He talked about loving our neighbor. He talked just a couple of days ago about making the Temple into a house of prayer again. He was the one who was going to lead the way to God. He was going to remove the Romans and their lapdogs and set up God’s Kingdom.

And now he’s gone. I watched yesterday as he died on a cross. A cross! He was killed like a criminal, in between two thieves! He was the Messiah; he was the chosen one, and he was killed like all the others. Even John the Baptist was beheaded.

And I tried, I tried to get him to do it right. When he started talking about dying, I told him he had it wrong. And when he talked about that he came to bring a sword, I made sure I brought mine to the Garden two nights ago. I was ready. I knew that he’d set it up there and he was about to start the revolution. I didn’t know if he’d strike dead the Temple guards or convert them to our side.

But then he just went with them and that bastard traitor, Judas. I wasn’t going to let that happen. If he wasn’t going to start it, I was going to. I took it out and I slashed that servant of the High Priest. But Jesus even stopped that.

So I followed and when I got to the courtyard, I… I…



And now he’s gone. He like all those other Messiahs, dead by a foreign hand. I guess I could keep talking about the stuff he talked about. That was good, loving your neighbor, taking care of the poor, visiting the sick. That was good stuff.

I’ll probably go home now. I was making a good living as a fisherman. I was supporting my family.

I just know that I’m going to miss him, the twinkle in his eye as he got ready to heal someone. That look of righteous anger as he was going to confront those self righteous Pharisees. That smile of love when he got around children.

I’m really going to miss him…

5 comments:

Clarissa said...

Wait -- I thought it was Tuesday ... I'm so confused.

Rob and I both love your post. Yet neither of us knew what to say in response! So I'll just tell you we enjoyed it. And earlier we enjoyed a contest of who could come up with the best ridiculous response. (I'll spare you.)

Phil said...

I'll tell you what Sheryl said.

"He didn't even sound like a fisherman. He kind of sounded like a high school English teacher or a tech writer or something. Imagine that."

Clarissa said...

Well, then, Sheryl, come up with a better version, whydontcha!

:-)

Donna G said...

I loved this. I have always identified with Peter (of course I mean his weaker side). I can just imagine how scary that Friday and Saturday was.

Anonymous said...

It will be interesting to see how the Islamic world responds to this one. The majority of muslims hold the view point that it was judas iscariot on the cross, but this author claims an independant theory. After seeing the cover art I think I know where he is going with this one. Sounds like an interesting read. It is my opinion that this is a challenge to both christians and muslims.

(DELIVER A MESSIAH MISTAKEN IDENTITY)

Template Designed by Douglas Bowman - Updated to Beta by: Blogger Team
Modified for 3-Column Layout by Hoctro