They want us to fear them,
and oh does it ever work!
I am very much afraid.
and there is nothing I can do. Nothing!
There is nothing anyone can do.

They are terrorist, you know; these Romans.
They come into our country
and kill and torture to keep us in line.
I am terrified for my family and for my country
and even for our way of life.
And our home-grown terrorists are even worse!
All old Herod's sons are as evil as was he.
They are carpet baggers with a taste for blood.

And just look at this horror before us.
This man Jesus was a good man.
I have followed stories of his travels and acts
over the last year.
Did you know he has even healed lepers and
once raised a little girl from the dead?

How can such things be bad?
And, he teaches a kind of powerful gentleness
that we could use a lot of in this world.

Face the cross
Hymn 324, first 6 measures - flute
He is an amazing man.
Did I tell you I met him once?
Or almost met him; just as good as met him.
It was last night in the Garden of Gethsemane.
I saw the whole thing.

He was gathered with some of his followers
when a band of Temple thugs came for him.

I was watching from the shadows.
They treated this kind and good man like a common thief.
And, I saw something you will not believe.
His followers were angry that they had come
to arrest Jesus,
and one of them drew his sword
and took a swipe at the head
of one of those thugs.
He mostly missed, but he did take off the man's ear.
Ouch!

And, you know what Jesus did?
He commanded his disciples to stop.
He said, "Do not harm them."
Then, he reached down
and picked up the man's ear
and replaced it.
and, it healed immediately!
I've never seen the like.

At that there was an uproar, and I ran for my life.
I'm afraid I made something of a spectacle of myself,
for as I ran, one of the thugs grabbed for me
and my robe tore away.
I actually ran away naked as the day
I came into this world.
I speak the truth.

So, they led Jesus away to some kind of rigged trial.
Now they have dragged him through the market
To the quarry here,
and made us come to watch.

Look at the cross
Hymn 324, first 12 measures - flute
Look at that.
Even visited by this terror and pain,
the man is full of dignity and grace.

No one has come close to him
without being the better for it, even now.

Have you ever seen the like?
Yet, you see who gets crucified in this world?

I actually think the Romans and the Herodians
are afraid of him;
not to mention the Saducees.

I guess those in power want to stay in power,
whatever the cost,
but, how I wish it were not so.

How can all this change? I wonder.
How can a people change for the better?

What was that?

O my, the soldiers and the thugs
are throwing things at the poor man.
They are hurling insults as well.

Isn't it enough that he is nailed to that post
and dying a horrible death?

Have they no decency?
- forget I asked that.

Face the cross. Hymn 324, first 6 measures - flute
Do you see the sign nailed to the post
stating the charge made against him?

"Jesus of Nazareth," it reads,
" King of the Jews"

King? King?
How can that pitiful body look like a king?
But, he does
and do you know what?
I wish he were king.
And, how I wish kings would learn from him.

I think I am learning from him.
Or, perhaps these terrorist are teaching me
More that they would wish.

I'm beginning to understand what a real king could be.

A real king
(even a real human being for God's sake)
is he who exercises love and gentleness, as does Jesus;
works to make people more fully human, as does Jesus
and does not use power to control others
for his own benefit,
as does pretty much everyone else
around here.

A king is he who leaves people
better for their having passed this way.

A king is one who brings peace and wholeness
and not oppression and death on crosses
of whatever kind.

You know what, friend,
this Jesus is a king,
a king in God's kingdom.

He is a king
who can help us get through these hard places,
of pain, loss, and terror,
for he has certainly been there.
And, look and note:
it hasn't made him less of a man - rather more!

What a paradigm of life for human kind.
Didn't I hear some people call him Savior?
I think I know what they meant.

Hymn 324, first 12 measures - flute
Wait.
Listen, he is speaking to the man
being crucified beside him.

Did you hear that?
He told that poor suffering man,
"Truly, I tell you,
today you will be with me in paradise."

Oh my!
Oh my!
Maybe there is more of this story to come!
Good friend,
the terrorist Romans and Herodians
aren't going to get away with this one.

For one thing, I am going to do something about it myself!
I am going to tell everyone this story.
I am even going to write it down for all to read.
An outline of a book is forming in my head.
It goes like this:
I am going to tell the world
that there is a new king of kings
who can change our hearts,
fill us with hope
in the midst of horror,
bind us together as a people,
bring us to new life and joy,
and even help us to be agents of God
working toward a new kingdom of the heart.

I shall start now, or my name isn't Mark.
Oh.
I'm sorry my good friend.
I've been doing all the talking.
What do you think about all this? What do you think?
And what are you going to do?

Hymn 324, played through - flute