I WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE
Perspectives.......

Kathy Bernard - Publisher
 

I hear the crowds jeering and screaming, jostling for position, moved to frenzy shouting “Crucify Him.  He claims to be the son of God”.  I hear the leaded, barbed whip flogging, tearing into the flesh of this Man called Jesus, saw Him handed over to cruel hands stripping Him of His clothes and dressing Him in a long purple robe and with cruel irony place a crown made of long sharp thorns on His head.  They beat Him on His head and pretended to worship Him. 

“Hail, King of the Jews" they mocked, kneeling to “worship Him”.  Raucous laughter resounded through the air as the crowd became an angry mob.

WHEN they tired of the sport they took off the robe, dressed Him in His own clothes and led Him away to be crucified.

IT was getting to be nine o’clock in the morning, the trial having started around dawn.  People were getting restless.  There was a carnival feel in the air and people were milling around and some were sitting on the ground eating, but all eyes were fixed on Jesus and the cross....waiting...waiting for the moment to begin.

"AHHH!, the crowd sat up expectantly. It was starting.

I hear the ring of the nails as they pounded them into our Lord’s hands and feet.  I see the shocked faces of those who loved Him as they stood along the fringes.  The gleeful faces of Jesus’ tormentors danced around the cross.

I  bowed my head and recalled the prophecies which were now unfolding before my very eyes.  The soldiers pounced upon the clothes of Jesus and divided them by casting lots.  This was prophesied in Psalm 22:18: “They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment,”

“HEY there, Messiah”, they yelled at Him, you “King of Israel., come on down from that cross and we will believe that you are the son of God”.

ON either side of Jesus, Who hung on the cross, were two thieves who had also been crucified. They hung there, taunting Him at first along with the crowd, then one of them said to Jesus, “We know why we hang here.  We deserve this, but not you. “Lord”, he said, "remember me when you come into your kingdom”.

JESUS looked at him and said, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in Paradise”.

ALONG about noon, darkness fell across the entire land, lasting until three o’clock in the afternoon.  At that time Jesus, the Son of man shouted “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani”, meaning "My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?" (Psalms 22:2), and commended His Spirit to His Father.

JOHN 19: 28-37 tells us, "Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture He said, “I am thirsty.”  A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to His lips.  When Jesus had tasted it, He said, “It is finished!” Then He bowed His head and released His spirit.

IT was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was the Passover). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down.  So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus.  But when they came to Jesus, they saw that He was already dead, so they didn’t break His legs.  One of the soldiers, however, pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.  This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account.  He speaks the truth so that you also can believe.  These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of His bones will be broken,” and “They will look on the One they pierced.”

I  heard a rumbling sound as a mighty earthquake shook the earth. In the terrifying darkness, I could hear rocks splitting, and people ran about announcing that the curtain secluding the Holiest Place in the Temple was split apart from top to bottom. Others stood gaping at the cross and some were heard to say, “Surely this man was the Son of God”.

I fell to my knees to pray. I knew the ending to this story. Couldn’t the others see? Couldn’t they see?

YES, I knew the ending.  Hadn’t the prophets predicted this too?

"THERE ARE NONE SO BLIND AS THOSE
WHO WILL NOT SEE"

THERE He hangs, Jesus of Nazareth, stilled forever. I heard Him speak many times in the Temple and each time He caused quite a sensation whenever He spoke. I knew of His mother and father as a matter of fact. And just who is that fellow Jew kneeling in front of the cross? He keeps rattling on and on about “There are none so blind as those who will not see.” He must be crazy. Any blind person would give much to have eyesight restored.

FUNNY thing... that man Jesus, He persisted in claiming to be the Messiah. I have been a student of mosaic law for some time now and I don’t think this fellow ever fit the bill. He did some strange things though, like healing the sick, and I even heard He was raising the dead. Hearsay. Still, He gave me a moment’s pause several times in the synagogue when He claimed He was the Son of God. I wonder why He claimed He was all the prophecies fulfilled? He certainly didn’t fit the part. He wasn’t self imposing. He was gentle and kind except when He spoke of sin and eternal life.

NEVER forget that time in the synagogue when He quoted the scriptures referring to the coming Messiah. He really held our attention. He was grand that day. I'll always remember Him saying, “Today I fulfill that prophecy”.

WELL, you can imagine the bedlam that followed that declaration. The priests were outraged. Being holy was forgotten and people had to be restrained. But there was something about Jesus..... something I felt...something that made me want to believe....But no! He was just too unorthodox. He set his own rules... that’s what set people off... like healing the sick on the Sabbath. And that business about dying and rising again..

WHAT was good enough for my ancestors is certainly good enough for me. And if the Messiah should come in my lifetime, I am sure all of us, especially the elders will recognize Him.

STILL Jesus was a good man, I'll give you that... He believed what He was saying, and I must admit there were times when I became confused about all this, but the leaders at the Temple set me straight in my mind.

CRAZY how the weather has turned. Kind of frightening, that earthquake. I guess that’s what set off that business with the curtain in the Temple. I’ll stop by there on the way home. Then maybe get things together ...after all, Passover is almost upon us.

PRAISE GOD!  HE IS RISEN

Song: "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?"
Sung by: Tatiana
   Link:   Movie Scenes from: The Passion of the Christ by
Mel Gibson