The Ultimate Injustice
By InsaneGenius
She felt helpless as she watched Jesus of Nazareth stumbling, unable to bear the load of the cross that would be his demise. A man named Simon of Cyrene had to carry this deathbed for him all the way to Golgotha (place of skulls) the hill on which he would be crucified.
The sight of this was almost too much for her to bear as she looked onto this scene of chaos. This man didn't deserve any of the pain being inflicted upon him. He had done nothing. He was innocent. His only crime was his mere existence on the face of the planet, which was indeed no crime at all. He would die on that cruel cross because of the fear and wanton jealousy of men.
After coming out of her momentary reverie, she saw them give Jesus sour wine mixed with myrr, which he refused to drink after tasting it.
Then she heard it. The one sound she had been dreading to hear. It was the sound of metal upon metal as they drove the nails through his wrists and feet. Each strike sent a shiver down her spine as she thought about how much excruciating pain this man had to endure. She closed her eyes. She didn't know why. Perhaps she thought closing them would put an end to the insanity that was taking place all around her. But of course one cannot stop time simply by closing one's eyes. She soon opened them upon hearing the people cast lots for his clothing. For the first time she also become aware of the sign pinned over his head stating his accusation: This is Jesus, King of the Jews.
She noticed Jesus look at a woman and a man in the crowd.
"Woman behold thy son," he gasped to the woman who had to be his mother.
"Behold thy mother," he said to the man. She didn't quite know what he meant by it, but the way he said it brought a tear to her eye.
Then he said something that cut her to the quick so to speak.
"Father forgive them, they know not what they do."
This was indeed a great man. He asked the lord to forgive the very people who were crucifying him. Any normal man would be full of rage probably cursing the ground his enemies walked upon, and yet this man did nothing of the sort.
Two robbers had been crucified on either side of Jesus. One mocked him saying, " If you are the Christ save yourself and us." However the other replied, " Don't you fear God? We suffer the same condemnation. Us justly for we receive due rewards for our actions, but he has done nothing wrong. Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom."
Jesus answered saying, " Today you will be with me in paradise."
The robber was right. Jesus was not guilty of any of the accusations placed against him. And yet here he was nailed to a cross in absolute agony listening to people blaspheme against him saying all kinds of unspeakable things about him.
Then at about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out, "Eli Eli Lama Sabachtahni." (My God My God why have you forsaken me?)
"I Thirst," he cried later.
She watched as someone took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and offered it to him.
"This man is about to die," she thought, " And these people don't even have the decency to give him one last drop of water."
She looked up at Jesus' grief stricken face and heard what she thought would be his last words ever spoken. "It is finished," he cried, and then he gave himself to die. She began to weep bitterly. He was truly dead. Her fellow Jews had killed him out of hatred, envy, and all evil feelings associated with the devil.
As she wept, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, and the earth began to quake. She became afraid. Rocks were split, graves were opened, and many bodies of saints who had died were raised. It was a terrifying scene for her to witness.
She gazed one more time at the body of Jesus hanging there on the cross. The Jews had asked Pilate that their legs might be broken to quicken their death. For it was the preparation day and they did not want them on the cross on the Sabbath. Jesus was already dead, so they pierced his side with a spear causing blood mixed with water to come out.
She felt sorrow engulfing the very core of her being. This man had indeed been the Son of God, the Christ, their Savior, and they had brutally murdered him because of a few sadistic Pharisees who saw the miracles he performed but turned a blind eye to them, people who relished any opportunity to prove him wrong, people who put him to death for saying six short words: I am the son of God.
And the Jews were just as guilty. They listened to the Pharisees. They chose Barrabas, someone who was the very antithesis of Jesus, a murderer, to live instead of Jesus, a man who had healed thousands.
They had committed the ultimate injustice.