It Had to Be

Palm Sunday.  That triumphant parade into Jerusalem.  And Jesus knew that his time was short.  He knew what was coming.  I am so humbled, so amazed, so in awe - of his strength, his grace, the discipline he must have had, to know what was coming and yet to minister.  To know what he would have to suffer - not only the physical pain, but the pain of betrayal, the pain of mockery, of the doubting and the denial.  He was wholly man and wholly God.  God in the knowing.  Man in the feeling.  Yet he taught.  And he cared.  And he blessed those around him - with his joy and his peace.  And finally with his sacrifice.  Hosanna.

It Had to Be

You took the forty lashes; you wore the thorny crown.

You had to bear your cross through mocking crowds.

Did you cry out when they nailed your hands onto the splintered tree?

It had to be hard for you to know it had to be.

It had to be hard to be your mother

With memories of her babe.

It had to be hard to be your Judas,

To know he would betray

It had to be hard to hear you praying,

And then to see you seized,

To try to stop the soldiers

As they took you from your knees.

It had to be hard for Pontius Pilate,

To have to wash his hands.

It had to be hard for Simon Peter

To deny you’d been his friend.

It had to be hard to hang beside you

Knowing you had never sinned.

It had to be hard to see your final breath,

And the whisper, “It is finished.”

You took the forty lashes;  you wore the thorny crown.

You had to bear your cross through mocking crowds.

Did you cry out when they nailed your hands onto the splintered tree?

It had to be hard for you to know it had to be.