The Cross in the Middle

If you were in the audience at the time of Christ's crucifixion, what would you have thought of Jesus? Was He the son of Joseph the Carpenter, who lost His mind and thought He was the Son of God? A good man who was misguided by His religion? Was He was just another one of those self-proclaimed Messiah who thought they could deliver God's people from Roman servitude? Would you have thought, "Good riddance; enough of Him already!"? As you look at the man on the cross in the middle, crown of thorns on His head, fresh wound in His side from which blood and water flowed, and everyone waiting for Him to die, what would you have thought?

As Christians the world over celebrate Good Friday, we look back and wonder, "How could they not have known?" They had seen the miracles - the blind received their sight, the lame walked, the lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, the dead raised (Luke 7:22). He taught in the synagogue like none other (Matthew 13:54), He turned water into wine (John 2:11), fed the multititude with five loaves and two fishes (Matthew 14:15-21), the evidence was there for all to see; the spiritual leaders would have read of Him in the Scriptures of the day. The man on that cross was not a criminal, a raving lunatic, or an emeny of the State. He was who He said He was - Jesus, the Son of God.

That was almost 2,000 years ago, yet the chant of "Give us Barabbas" still echoes across time. From as far back as the garden of Eden, whenever mankind is faced with the choice of God's way or the other way, we have taken the other way. The first time God expelled man from the garden; this time man tried to kill Him. Yet the cross remains an expression of God's love; the intersection where His love and justice meet, and a powerful reminder of the extreme steps that He has taken to reconcile mankind to Himself. That cross in the middle was ours. We should have been crucified, we should have suffered and died, we should have hung on the cross in disgrace, but Jesus, God's Son, took our place.

On that grim and fateful Friday afternoon, those standing there made their choice. Today, we have to make ours. What do you think of Jesus? What are you going to do with Him? Will you accept Him as Saviour and Lord, or crucify Him afresh?