Our traveler rushes to follow the crowd that follow the Messiah. Our traveler can not see Him and has not seen Him since the trial. The shouts of the crowd and the violence they give is frightening to our traveler as he ducks and dodges through the masses. Why were they in such an uproar? The Roman guards stood at the ready.
“This could turn into a riot.” Our traveler heard one of the guards whisper. “What has the man even done?”
The other guards eyes were red as though he held back tears, “my brother’s son, who was very ill, this man healed him.”
The first guard looked at him, “really? I remember his illness, they thought he would die. Why kill a man who would do such good things?”
A small shine touched the other guards cheek as a single tear managed to make it’s way past his resolution. “Why indeed.”
Our traveler rushes on past the guards and almost collides with a woman who is in near hysteria. Our traveler recognizes her. She was the woman at the well that day. She sees our traveler and grabs him, “they can’t do this! You must make them stop!” She shakes him and cries.
Our traveler pulls free, “I know. I am trying to get to Him.”
She steps away and let’s him pass. Our traveler sees the glimpse of figure huddled on the ground, a cross laying in the dirt next to Him. His body so broken it tears our traveler’s heart in two. He tries to push past the people who were crowding around but can’t make it. Finally the heaving of the masses pushes him to the top of the hill. He’s too late.
John 19:16-19, 23, 25-27 ESV
[16] So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, [17] and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. [18] There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. [19] Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
Our traveler looked at the sign and shook his head. He was so much more than simply the king. Laughter broke the hush that had fallen upon our traveler. It was so out of place that it frightened him. He turned to look.
[23] When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom,
Our traveler clenches his fists and then a voice tears his attention back to the horror of the cross.
[25] but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. [26] When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” [27] Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
So this was it. He really was going to die here. All they had hoped for and waited for. The pain in his heart and anger in his mind was too much for him and our traveler screams and falls to his knees. It was not an uncommon sight at that hill so no one pays attention to him. He buries his face in his hands and cries openly.
A hand rests on our traveler’s shoulder and he stands with a start. He sees the man who he had met under the olive tree. His newly seeing eyes, full of tears.
“You knew Him too my friend.” The man says.
Our traveler nods, “I searched for Him for most of my life. I’m silly old man! What do my prophecies amount to now!”
The man who had once been blind and now could see, turned his new eyes upon the savior in agony on the cross. “I don’t know what to tell you. All I can say is, He must a purpose, even for this.”
When tragedies strike we question everything. We question our motivation. We question our friends. Our family. Ourselves. Most often we finish by questioning God. We searched for Him so hard and long. We longed for His embrace. We have given Him our time and our lives. Then we feel like He has failed us. We fail a big test. We have bad news about our health. We lose our job. Our child runs away. Suddenly God is no longer in control or else He is no longer good.
But even if not, He is still good. Recall the three Hebrew boys saying that? Even in the bad times when we don’t understand, He is still good.
Even when we fall hard He is still good.
Even when He is on the cross when we think He should be overthrowing our enemies and taking over as King, He is still good. In fact, He is better than good. He is working something new and amazing for our lives. Even if we don’t see it at the time.
We cannot know God’s plans, all we can ever know for sure is that, even in the worst, most heartbreaking, most confusing times, He must have a purpose.
Carried in the cross 