For Good Friday – Poem by Ray Boltz, 1986
Walking on the road to Jerusalem
The time had come to sacrifice again;
My two small sons walked beside me on the road –
The reason they had come was to watch the lamb.
“Daddy, Daddy, What will we see there?
There’s so much we don’t understand.”
So I told them of Moses and Father Abraham
And then I said, “Dear children, watch the lamb . . .
For there will be so many in Jerusalem today
We must be sure the lamb doesn’t run away.”
And I told them of Moses and Father Abraham
And then I said, “Dear children, watch the lamb.”
When we reached the city, I knew something must be wrong;
There were no joyful worshippers, no joyful worship songs.
I stood there with my children in the midst of angry men
And then I heard the crowd cry out – “Crucify him!”
We tried to leave the city, but we could not get away,
Forced to play in the drama a part I did not wish to play;
Why upon this day were men condemned to die?
Why were we standing here when soon they would pass by?
I looked, and said, “Even now they come”.
The first one cried for mercy, the people gave him none.
The second one was violent, he was arrogant and loud,
I can still hear his angry voice screaming at the crowd.
Then someone said “There’s Jesus” and I scarce believed my eyes.
A man so badly beaten He barely looked alive.
Blood poured from His body from the thorns upon His brow,
Running down the cross and falling to the ground.
I watched Him as He struggled, I watched Him as He fell,
The cross came down upon His back, the crowd began to yell.
In that moment I felt such agony, in that moment I felt such loss
Until a Roman solider grabbed my arm and screamed “You – carry His cross!”
At first I tried to resist him, then his hand reached for his sword
And so I knelt and took the cross from the Lord.
I placed it on my shoulder and started down the street –
The blood that He’d been shedding was running down my cheek.
They led us to Golgotha; they drove nails deep in His feet and hands
And yet upon the cross I heard Him pray, “Father, forgive them”.
Oh, never have I seen such love in any other eyes
“Into Thy hands I commit My spirit” He prayed, and then He died.
I stood for what seemed like years, I’d lost all sense of time;
Until I felt two tiny hands holding tight to mine.
My children stood there weeping, I heard the oldest say,
“Father, please forgive us – the lamb ran away.”
“Daddy, Daddy, What have we seen here?
There’s so much that we don’t understand.”
So I took them in my arms, and we turned and faced the cross,
And then I said, “Dear children, watch the Lamb.”
~~
Dr Bob Griffin, www.grif.net
1 cross + 3 nails = 4 given