At the Foot of the Cross 3 (K. Gardiner)

I’m enjoying these meditations by Ken Gardiner found here.

“And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.” (Matt. 27:36)

HIM THERE! Who put him there?

To answer that literally, we must say, “The soldiers”; the army of occupation. Technically they were Romans, and the centurion in charge would most probably indeed have come from Rome. But the soldiers themselves may have come from anywhere in the empire.

It was the custom, on conquering a country, for Rome to transport the young men of that nation to serve in another. In that way there was less chance of rebellion.

So, for the soldiers, far from home, this was just another duty.

“Number five platoon, you’re on crucifixion today. Fall in; quick march!”

All they knew was that there were three; two robbers and a man accused of treason. He claimed to be a king, and you can’t do that and live, with Caesar on the throne.

He must be mad; and madmen were always good for sport. So they had their fun.

The purple robe, a bulrush in his hand, and for a crown – a ring of thorns. “Your majesty!”

They’ll bow before him again one day.

Then out to the site, bang in the nails and heave the cross-bar into position.

But he was different – “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”

So literally, yes, it was the soldiers who put HIM, THERE! But they were simply obeying orders.

So was it Pilate? after all, he was in charge. No execution could be carried out except on his authority.

Here we see the issue stark and clear. He had examined Christ and found no fault in him.

Justice demanded he be set free.

But what was expedient? Ah, expediency! Pilate knew complaints about himself

had already gone to Rome,

and he was anxious to avoid adding any more. If it should reach the ears of Caesar

that the Jews had found a man claiming to be king, and, bringing him to Pilate, had demanded he be put to death, and Pilate had set him free…!

Justice and expediency… and expediency had won. So Pilate too, as surely as the soldiers,

put HIM, THERE!

But what of the Jewish rulers; the priests, the Sadducees? It was they who pushed Pilate into it against his will.

At the Foot of the Cross 2 (K. Gardiner)

I’m enjoying these meditations by Ken Gardiner found here.

“And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.” (Matt. 27:36)

HIM THERE!

Him! As we think of him, let us try to picture for a moment, how he would seem to them – the ones with whom he’d shared himself.

You see, for us, our minds are coloured before we start. We are told from the outset, “This is God.”

And whilst we may not go as far as to picture him a stained-glass saint with a halo round his head, we feel we must approach him with a sense of awe.

He is the ‘Son of God’; not really one of us. But to those who lived in Israel then,

who knew Joseph as the carpenter and Mary as his wife, and young Jesus as their son; to them he would be nothing special.

They would have no sense of awe. It seems most likely he would follow

his father’s trade, and learned to fashion things from wood; a yoke, the handle of a plough, a table or a chair.

But no one would have asked him for a cross; you do not need much skill for that, although it’s made of wood.

It’s strange to think that wood and nails were such familiar things to him all through his life. And, in the end, it was wood and nails that took that life from him.

At the Foot of the Cross 1 (K. Gardiner)

I’m enjoying these meditations by Ken Gardiner found here.

 

“And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.” (Matt. 27:36)

 

HIM THERE!

Words are strange things; for their size they carry so much meaning, especially when they are put together, as in the present case:- HIM THERE!

Why, there isn’t even a verb, and yet those two little words using only eight letters in all, contain the greatest mystery this world has ever known.

Him There. HIM! … THERE! It’s putting them together, of course,

that gives the wealth of meaning. If we spoke only of ‘HIM’, there would be no surprise,

for he could be anywhere; All things were made by him,

and without him was not anything made

that was made. It is his world, he made it, and so

he might be anywhere within it. And if we spoke only of ‘THERE’,

that would be no surprise. It wasn’t an every-day occurrence,

but common enough; after all two others were THERE, on their own crosses; one on either side of him.

What causes the astonishment is that it should be

HIM, THERE!

And what about in heaven? Were the angels watching?

They came and sang at his birth, were they there at his death also?

There was one angel, of course, who knew of it. Luke records that he came to the garden of Gethsemane

to strengthen Christ as he prayed in agony. But did the hosts of heaven know? If so, they must have been in dread and awe

to see their Lord, their King, upon the cross. To see HIM, THERE!