I WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE

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 Pilate’s 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.

They brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha meaning skull place.I saw a man from Africa who was passing through pressed into service carrying the cross of Jesus. He was Simon of Cyrene.

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 in front of the cross. They pounced upon His clothes and divided them by casting lots.

I bowed my head and recalled the prophecies I had heard about...the prophecies which were now unfolding before my very eyes.

“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 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” and commended His Spirit to His Father.

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? There are none so blind as those who will not 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 mosiac 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 synogogue 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..

Well, 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.

HE IS RISEN

Early that Sunday morning, three days after the crucification, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb. They carried embalming spices in their baskets for they had loved Jesus. The sun had just risen. They were discussing possible ways they could roll the heavy stone from the entrance to the cave where Jesus lay inside.

Suddenly there was a mighty earthquake, and the angel of the Lord came down from heaven and rolled aside the stone and sat down on it.

His face shone like lightning and his clothes were a brilliant white. The guards who were there to make sure Jesus’ disciples would not steal the body and pretend He had risen, shook with fear when they saw the angel and fell in a dead faint.

Don’t be frightened”, he told the women, “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified but He isn’t here! He has come back to life again. Come and see. Come and see where His body was lying!” Then the angel said, “Go and tell His disciples”.

Jesus had broken the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave. As we shall when He comes to take us to the Father.

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