Each Lenten season I retell the stories of the crucifixion to children in worship with flannel graph backgrounds and figures. The crucifixion scene is busy – two thieves are hanging there, one looking toward him, one away; some soldiers stand guard, others in the foreground sit and gamble for a garment; Mary is there weeping, and John is there to comfort her; several people walk by clearly agonized by the torture of the man, while others walk nonchalantly by without noticing a thing. Unbelievable, I say. How can you not notice that a man is being tortured within feet of the road you walk? Are they bowing their heads so as not to notice? Are they diverting their eyes so the Romans in some small way are deprived of their victory of horrifying the crowds into obedience? They appear to be talking to each other – hands are in motion as they walk as if they are in conversation. They look busy. Can it be? Can it be that another human being was so little esteemed by them that they ignored his dying so near them? Can anyone have so little regard for another? Can anybody despise someone so much so as to be untouched by his lingering death? Is there such a person?
Yes. I know him. I see him in the mirror. I am busy. My hands are moving as I make my points to anyone who will listen; I am almost always talking. Things happen around me that are of no importance to me, but are life and death matters to the stranger. An ambulance rushes by carrying a neighbor near death, and I am inconvenienced by needing to pull over a moment while they pass. A troubled teen acts out within my sight; I remain silent. Daily I walk past the helpless, homeless, hopeless; I am talking to myself, lost in deep thoughts. During the Lenten season I may be especially busy. Yet the cross and the dying form of the one hanging there is so near me. This year will I stop long enough to contemplate? This devotional guide is written by the officers of the church and given to you to help you contemplate at the cross. “When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died… Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” Isaac Watts Turn my sight and my soul to you, my crucified Lord.
Jerry Andrew
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