Stayed

"If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross," Matthew 27:40.

Here, the man. Clubbed, horsewhipped, nailed mercilessly to wooden beams. Dangling, lifted between earth and sky. Some onlookers ridicule, You uttered claims of fools: King of Israel? Sure you are! Planned a three-day effort to tear down and rebuild the temple? Save others? You can't even save yourself! You trusted in God? See where that got you! Rip your hands and feet off that cross and get down - yeah, and then maybe we'll believe, too! Others filled with sorrow at his death go home, dismayed. One onlooker, despairing of all hope, commits suicide. Pagan soldiers awestruck by the day's events say, Truly, this was a son of God!

The mockery tears at our hearts, doesn't it? Yet, Jesus had said, If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to me. And, two thousand years later, today, with a brother or sister, together we give thanks to God. Humbled that Jesus indeed trusted to God who judges justly. That he chose to stay on that cross.