Via Dolerosa

This post I actually wrote back when I was in college. I believe it was spring 2001. One night I was awake with this story in my head so I got up and started writing. I am not much of an English major at all!!! So mind the run on sentences and the poor grammer. This was also inspired by the song "Watch the Lamb" by Ray Boltz and "Via dolerosa" by Sandi Pattie. I felt I would share it in light of Easter.

Take yourself back some 2000 years. Your shopping in a market in Jerusalem. You spot a crowd gathered around a simple man, yet something seems to surround Him. Such love and power seem to flow from the very essence of His presence. You start looking at the crowd. Isn't that girl on His knee Jirus' daughter? You were sure you had heard your wife telling a friend that she had died! A new person joining the crowd catches your attention, and you do a double take. Isn't that the blind man, Bartemeous, who sits at the temple gate begging for alms? Where is his cane and little tin cup? Your curiosity is getting the best of you. Shopping forgotten, you push thru the crowd. Suddenly, you stop short. LEPERS!!! That women at the edge of the crowd, you know she has leprosy, but as you take a closer look--her face, her hands---Clean!!!! Still curious youstop a stranger and ask, "Who is this man? Where did He come from?" "His name is Jesus of Nazareth, a carpenter from Galilee."

As the stranger turns and leaves you scratch your head and wonder, " A carpenter with healing in His hands? Could it be the Messiah had finally come?" As you take those final steps thru the crowd, you catch His words, "Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest" (Matt 11:28) As the hours pass you find yourself believing what He says, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life."

In the weeks that follow you find yourself following Jesus' path. Your family is with you by this time. The only word to describe your family is "changed", by just a touch of the Masters hand.

Excitement is flowing thru Jerusalem. Jesus is coming!! Palm branches are waving. Your little girls is waving her branch as hard as she can. "Hosannas" are coursing from your lips. You join with the chorus of others singing praises to the Messiah. As Jesus passes by you, on the borrowed donkey, that same look of love and power surrounds Him and now you feel it too!! Oh, how you love Him! He changed you, your family, everything. you owe Him your life. Little did you know that less than a week later you would find your self remembering that phrase.

Later on that day you hear about the disturbance Jesus made in the temple: Casting out merchants, upturning tables, loosing the sacrifices which were to be sold. Your heart goes to your throat. What does He think He is doing? you already know the chief priests and elders dislike Him. What will they do to Him now?

As your family prepares for passover, the news is passed to you that Jesus and his disciples will be meeting together in an upper room for a feast of their own. oh, how you wish you could be in their company.

It was late when you heard a disturbance outside, a group of people are hurrying to the high priest's house. Curious to the cause of the commotion you hurriedly dress and join them. When you arrive you notice the chill in the air and find a place by the fire. "It's Jesus, they have arrested Him!" You are struck with unbelief. NO, Not Jesus, the Messiah, it can't be!" As you glance across the garden you see who you think is...oh whats his name? Peter! Yes, it's Peter. You have got to find out if Jesus is really with the High Priest, but before you can catch up to him, you see him flee from the garden, and were there tears in his eyes?

Confused and bewildered you look towards the door of the High Priest's house just in time to see Him. Suddenly an young, arrogant solider slaps Jesus in the face, another steps forward and spits on Him. Not being able to stand i and to afraid to speak up you turn and run.

The next few hours flow quickly. As soon as it was day you hear He was sent to Pilate, then to Herod and finally back to Pilate. You join the crowd around Pilate's palace. It is a noisy crowd that you meet. some of the same one that shouted "Hosanna" just days ago are now shouting "Crucify, Crucify Him!" you join the small chorus of others saying, "Let Him go, release Jesus!" "Barabas, give us Barabas!" is the louder cry. Your voice is hoarse. You watch in horror as Pilate washes His hands and hear him say, "Take him and crucify Him!" "NO, NO" you scream, "not my Messiah!"

You watch as Roman guards usher away a barely distinguishable man. You turn your head as you catch a glimpse of His back. You had heard about how brutal the Romans could be and now a living example is before your eyes. Torn to shreds by the cat-of-nine-tails causing blood to course down His back and legs. Bruised was His Chest, arms and face, but His eyes still filled with love and compassion, but now you see much pain and agony in them.

You run home to get your wife and children and slowly join the crowd that makes their way to Galgotha. The Roman soldiers push their way thru the crowd as the Saviour of the world struggles with a heavy cross. He stumbles and falls in front of you. You turn to shield your children's eyes from this gruesome scene, when a hand clamps on your shoulder. You turn and find yourself staring into the hardened eyes of a Roman captain. "You, Carry His cross" he snarls!

You go to resist him, as his hand reaches for his sword. Suddenly, you remember your words from a few weeks earlier, "you would give your life for him." You turn and kneel beside your Saviour and lift the crudely made cross from His shoulder and place it on your own. The blood from his body sticks to your robe and trickles down your cheek as you walk down the "Via Dolerosa." (the way of suffering) Tears are freely falling from your eyes as you reach the top of the hill. You are rudely shoved aside as the cross is taken form your shoulders. you catch one last glimpse of Jesus' eyes before you step away from the cross. Still, such love flows from His very being. You want to scream out, "Call your angels to protect you!" But quietly you hurry to find your family as the first ring of steel on steel echoes across the city.

You find your wife and children near the base of the hill. With tears streaming down their little faces the ask, "Daddy, Daddy what are we seeing here today?" As you turn the Lamb of the World is being raised on an old rugged cross and you quietly say, "Children, watch the Lamb."

You stand there for what seems like years and watch the scene unfold, you hear Him pray, you see him cry. Suddenly all goes dark, but it is the middle of the day. Not taking your eyes from the cross you hear Him cry out, "It is Finished!" Beneath your feet the ground begins to shake. An earthquake! As quickly as it came it was gone. Looking again at the cross your heart goes to your throat. "It's over," you think "He's dead! Was I wrong about Him?"

You usher your family away from this scene knowing what is to come. The soldiers will come and take Him down and deliver Him to Joseph's tomb where He will be prepared for burial. You even heard they will be stationing guards to keep a close eye on the tomb. your only excuse for leaving the scene was to prepare for the coming sabbath.

A quiet Sabbath day soon passes, as you begin your week. Your heart still heavy from the memories you are reliving from the short days before. It is still early as your wife returns from the marketplace out of breath and shouting, "He is Risen, He is Risen!" Can it be true? You dare not believe. You rush towards the tomb. Cautiously you look inside the sepulchre. EMPTY! It's true what the angel said, "He is not here for He is risen!"

You start down the road towards your home. Your heart rejoicing! He was the Messiah! No, strike that, HE IS THE MESSIAH, and He is Alive. You know and you believe, because he changed you. As you walk thru the doors of a changed home, you feel this praise bubbling from within your heart and soul...

I believe that the Christ who was slain on that Cross,

has the power to change lives today.

For He changed me completely

a new life is mine.

That is why by the Cross I will stay!

I believe in a hill called Mount Calvary

I believe whatever the cost

and when time has surrendered and earth is no more,

I'll still cling to that Old Rugged Cross.