Who was watching when you were at your worst? Who was there when you were most vulnerable? 

When were you most humiliated before others?

For six hours on the Friday we call Good, Jesus hung on the cross exposed to the world. He was defenseless, helpless, in agony at every moment. 

People said whatever they wanted to say. They did whatever they wanted to do. He was mocked, ridiculed, insulted. Everything belonging to him was taken from him. 

Read it for yourself. Jesus was the show. It’s not often you get to see a man die. It’s even less often that you get to see a man slowly succumb to the mortal wounds he has received. It was so engrossing that some people could not stay away. They could not look away. Some wouldn’t have it any other way.

Every mind of every soul gathered there that day or passing along the way focused on the man in the middle. 

They shivered at every twitch. They saw the blood fall, pool, and roll away. 

They witnessed the wounds growing. They observed the effects of dehydration. 

They saw his lips move. Some could hear the words, words of a prayer they had learned as children. The psalm began with hopeless abandonment. Every beating heart knew the terror, real or imagined, of such a moment. The song bears lament and fear, pleading and hoping. 

It ends in triumph. 

The last time Jesus spoke, at the moment he expired, his words were also triumphant. 

Sitting there, watching him die, seeing him dead, everyone knew this was no personal triumph. This was the end of the story. The last sentence was written. The last period dotted the line. All that was left to do was to put away the remains.

Those gathered there that day were certain of what they saw. Some saw a rebel leader silenced. Some saw a threat removed. Some saw all hope withdrawn. One saw her son – foretold by an angel, conceived by God’s supernatural agency, a perfect boy if ever there was one – die. The very breath of heaven was withdrawn.

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I will watch Jesus crucified and dying with deepest grief and utmost loss.

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Our Father, “he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and you have punished him for the iniquity of us all.” Amen. 

Isaiah 53:4-6 – Read on through verse 12 for what God foretold and Jesus fulfilled.