"There they crucified him."
Luke 23:35
Four words that take up a few inches on a page, yet contain the crux of mankind.
"There" - at Jerusalem, the City of David, so rich in history. Nehemiah rebuilt its walls, Daniel was exiled from there, the kings of Judah presided over the Israelites.
"They" - It may have been the Romans who drove the nails into his body, but figuratively, this pronoun includes all humankind, especially me. My sins were part of the burden which crushed him.
"Crucified" - What a gruesome thing! Naked, hung on a tree by nails, slowly suffocating as gravity pulls the body down, hours of excruciating misery. That anyone would invent such an inhumane means of execution makes me wince to be human.
"Him" - The babe in Bethlehem, whom shepherds adored and Mary cradled. The boy of twelve in the temple of his Father. The pillar of cloud and fire who led the Israelites to the Promised Land. The Lamb of Passover. The fourth man in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The Author of Life, who painted the butterfly's wings and fashioned the complex eyes of a housefly. The One who healed diseases, calmed storms, drove away demons, raised the dead and offered hope to down-trodden castaways. The Lover of Souls who prayed for their forgiveness even as he hung on the cross.
"There they crucified him."
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