The Last Words of the Crucified Word (continued)

Today, you will be with me in paradise

Paradise.

Those words, words of Life spoken

By one dying man to another dying man, 

What joy must’ve been awoken 

By this son of Abraham

This was not a “Hail Mary” attempt at CPR

This is the COVENANT PROMISE REALIZED. CPR

This is the CREATOR. PRODUCING. REGENERATION. CPR

This is the CONSOLATION. PATRIARCHS. RELISHED. CPR

This is the CHERISHED. PROPITIATION. RITUAL. CPR

This is the CHRIST. PROVIDING. REDEMPTION. CPR

This is the CROSS PAYING RANSOM. CPR

This is the CLIMACTIC PASSOVER RAM. CPR

But for now He is just CURSED. PUBLICALLY. RIDICULED 

For cursed is anyone 

Who hangs on a tree

And so Christ redeemed us 

From the curse of the law

By becoming a curse for us.

He Himself bore our sins 

In his body on the tree

So that we might die to sin

And live to righteousness

So now we can be brought to life: 

Cleansed. Purified. Reconciled. 

While the other unrepentant thief?

Condemned. Punished. Ruined

The Word that gives life

Also has the power to take it

The Creator 

Making this repenter

A New Creation

One who was once guilty 

In a moment, declared free

 

Fess up! The charade is finally over

Aha! Beloved of YAH!

He who covers his sins will not prosper

Ahuva, you have been seen

There is nowhere left to run

Tell of the wrong you have done

The ones who will soon 

Shake the spear in his side

Like the words of Shakespeare, they cry

“There’s such divinity doth hedge a King”

He spoke much of His Father

Yet His speech is nothing 

Speak, man!

The chief priests, elders and scribes

Mocked again and 

Again and again

Well, the word got around, they said 

“This man is insane! Kid 

You not, he saved others

Yet He does not bother

To clear His own name

Now with pain 

Bursting at the seams

You have filled up 

God’s wrath to the brim

Their words stagger

Escaping from their mouth

Like the drunken swagger

Of a man unaware of his route

The verbal daggers

Hurled with the self-righteous grins

Of those who know not 

The ways of the Almighty

That the very servant 

Being mercilessly beaten

Did not get there by mistake

But willingly hangs defeating

Sin. In this evil moment

His glory is so potent 

He is exactly where

He chooses to be: there. 

And even though in great pain

Jesus chooses to remain

Bearing our shame 

Blood and sweat 

going down his mane

He knows the endgame

His passion will not be in vain

For His will is to glorify His Father

And this Father who has no other 

Only Begotten Son will 

Glorify the Son 

His death will be gain

And he will rise again

And while he will soon raise

Himself up, in this moment the rays

Of hope appear dimmer

As his followers raise their gaze

To the One they used to praise

Whose death now seems to erase

All hope they had 

That the Ancient of Days

Had finally sent out one to amaze

Them and set them free from Romans

Yet oh how little do they know man’s

Bondage is not really 

To the sons of earth 

But indeed that the very slavery 

They have is to sin and death

This one whose breath

They are about to take—this seed of Seth

Endures…for them…to give new birth.

But Jesus is truly man 

And right now, he is spent 

Weak, dizzy, choking

His soul rent. The God-Man 

Is bearing the full weight

Of the wrath of God unabated

Imagine not only the physical wounds

And sorrow but also 

The spiritual and emotional woe

The psychological torture and horror

He who knew no sin

Becoming sin 

Because of His great love

For the unclean

To make us clean

He is choosing to be struck 

So that the Father’s full

Justice can be fulfilled 

According to the great 

Wisdom Of the triune God

This is no random fate. 

The one who calmed the storm 

Now tossed about 

In the roar of the storm

He is experiencing the cruelest

Moment in His entire life 

As the Father turns His 

Face away from the One 

Who has only known 

Intimacy with His father

For all of eternity

ELI ELI LAMA SABACHTHANI

MY GOD, MY GOD,

WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?