"A Man Upon the Cross"

As the whip was brought down upon his body, no words escaped his mouth, there were no tears fallen from his eyes. The only drops that came from him were the drops of blood that fell from his open wounds. He seemed motionless as the last blow was applied to his backside.
While standing over this man, with the whip clutched tightly in his fist, the soldier wondered how this man could handle such agony and torcher. Why didn't he scream or even ask his so called father, God, for help. Even though these questions arose the answers couldn't have been made clearer, only if the soldier knew, only if he could realize that this man came here to die for us.

You may ask why, why did this man come here? Why did he suffer so much and take his place upon that cross to give up his own life? Why did he die for you and me?
Later a group of soldiers forced this man to wear a scarlet robe, as a crown of thorns was placed upon his head. The soldiers then began to mock him, as they knelt down and pretended to worship this so called "Kings of the Jews". When they were finished with their fun, the soldiers dressed the man back into his own attire and lead him off to Golgotha, "The Place of the Skull", carrying a cross over his shoulders. Many times the man fell upon his knees as the crosses weight was becoming to heavy to bare. The soldiers then placed the cross upon a farmers shoulders and made him carry it behind the battered man.

As he walked the streets, people stopped and stared. There were those who expressed hatred toward this man as they screamed at him and even spitted upon him. Others stood in disbelief and began to shed their own tears for this man. Tears of compassion and sympathy, but no matter what their feelings, no one knew this man's agony or the torment he went through. they didn't know his mission, his purpose, and most of all what they would gain.

Finally the destination was met and the man was placed down upon the cross. With every angry shout the soldiers hammer pounded the nails into this man's palms and feet. when he was positioned correctly and the nails set, the cross was risen between two theives. If it was not already enough to have a crowd of people hurling insults at you, try being placed in the middle of two others who have nothing but cruel words to say to you, or at least one of them did. the other simply spoke words of support for the suffering man, and in return only asked to be remembered when the time came.

Slowly the hours passed and finally this man's life came to an end, just as he said "It is finished", the last bit of breath escaped from his lips. All of a suddenthe clouds drifted in and the sky became black. Drops of rain then began to fall to the ground along with the blood from this man's body. As the water and blood mixed with the soil, it began to cleanse the world from its impurities. Suddenly the earth began to tremble, and the facial expression of the crowd behan to change, they became broken hearted over the terrible sight and went home. Still to this day you may ask why, why did this man come here, why did he suffer so much and take his place upon that cross? To give his life away for us, for our sins. Why did he die for you and me?

As you can see he did die for you and me, along with the people of all nations and color. This man had his life taken from him so that we all could gain ours back without the weight of sin.