From: Bass Mitchell
<bassm@va.tds.net>
SIQs (Stories,
Illustrations, Quotes)
Good Friday
April 9, 2004
#1
It is not the multitude of
hard duties, it is not constraint and contention that advance us in our
Christian course. On the contrary, it is the yielding of our wills without
restriction and without choice, to tread cheerfully every day in the path in
which Providence leads us, to seek nothing, to be discouraged by nothing, to
seek out duty in the present moment, to trust all else without reserve to the
will and power of God. Fenelon
#2
A medical doctor provides a
physical description: The cross is placed on the ground and the exhausted man
is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders against the wood. The
legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a
heavy, square wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood.
Quickly he moves to the
other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too
tightly, but to allow some flex and movement. The cross is then lifted into
place.
The left foot is pressed
backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail
is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees flexed. The victim is now
crucified. As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists,
excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in
the brain—the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As
he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places the full
weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of the
nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of his feet.
As the arms fatigue, cramps
sweep through the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain.
With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air
can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself in
order to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide builds up in the
lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subside.
Spasmodically he is able to
push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen.
Hours of this limitless
pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial
asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he
moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins: a deep,
crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and
begins to compress the heart.
It is now almost over—the
loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level—the compressed heart is
struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues—the tortured
lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air.
He can feel the chill of
death creeping through is tissues. . .Finally he can allow his body to die.
All this the Bible records
with the simple words, "And they crucified Him." (Mark 15:24).
What wondrous love is this?
Adapted from C. Truman
Davis, M.D. in The Expositor’s Bible
Commentary, Vol. 8
#3
If you were to look at
Rembrandt’s painting of The Three Crosses, your attention would be drawn first
to the center cross on which Jesus died. Then as you would look at the crowd
gathered around the foot of that cross, you’d be impressed by the various
facial expressions and actions of the people involved in the awful crime of
crucifying the Son of God. Finally, your eyes would drift to the edge of the
painting and catch sight of another figure, almost hidden in the shadows. Art
critics say this is a representation of Rembrandt himself, for he recognized
that by his sins he helped nail Jesus to the cross.
#4
Who was Jesus?
He began His ministry by
being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life.
Jesus ended His earthly
ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water.
Jesus was weary, yet He is
our rest.
Jesus paid tribute, yet He
is the King.
Jesus was accused of having
a demon, yet He cast out demons.
Jesus wept, yet He wipes
away our tears.
Jesus was sold for thirty
pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world.
Jesus was brought as a lamb
to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd.
Jesus died, yet by His
death He destroyed the power of death.
Gregory of Nazianzus, A.D.
381
#5
As Jesus was dying on the
cross, one of the thieves crucified with him asked Jesus to remember him when
Jesus came into his kingdom. Jesus responded by saying, "I tell you the
truth, today you will be with me in paradise." What had that man done to
deserve eternal life? What good work had he performed to receive such a reward?
Nothing! Eternal life is a gift from God, and there is nothing we can do to
deserve it.
#6
In 1959, Thomas Hoving of
New York's Metropolitan Museum purchased an ivory crucifix from a Yugoslavian
art collector, who had stored it in a Swiss bank vault. Hoving noticed that it
lacked its central figure—the body of Christ. For thirty years, a figure of
Christ carved out of ivory had been kept in Norway's Oslo Museum of Applied
Art. In 1969, Florens Deuchleer discovered that the seven-and-a-half-inch-tall
figure of Christ in the Oslo Museum fit perfectly into the five holes drilled
for it on the Metropolitan Museum's cross.
#7
When approaching the
railway town of Harriman, Tennessee, passengers are attracted by a large,
brightly lit cross on top of a nearby mountain. The idea for the cross came
from a five-year-old child who had received a little cross as a gift. He hung
the cross in his window, telling his mother, "Someone might see it and
think about Jesus and try to be good." His mother was so impressed with
the idea that she suggested that a large cross be erected in a highly visible
location for the very same purpose. Local churches worked together on the
project, and the cross was set on the mountaintop.
#8
There is a legend that, at
the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood tree was the size of the oak and other
forest trees. So firm and strong was the tree that it was chosen as timber for
the cross. The dogwood was greatly distressed to be used for such a cruel
purpose. The legend goes that Jesus sensed the dogwood's distress and said to
the tree, "Because of your regret and pity for my suffering, never again
shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a cross. Henceforth, it
shall be slender and bent and twisted and its blossoms shall be in the form of
a cross—two long and two short petals. And in the center of the outer edge of
each petal there shall be nail prints, brown with rust and stained red, and in
the center of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all those who see it will
remember."
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Bass Mitchell, Hot Springs,
VA
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