“He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him”

(Matthew 27:42)

I found myself invading the crowd to get close to see the crucified Jesus. I have tried very hard, but everyone else wanted to be close to the same thing I wanted to see. I reached a spot, not very close, but from where I could see well. I tried to distinguish who among the three was Jesus. They all looked very exhausted’ the marks of the scourge on their bodies, and their bodies covered with the blood. Unless the Bible tells that He was crucified in the middle I would not know Him (Luke 23:33).

People were crying and shouting around me with a loud voice. Some of them curse and revile, and some look at Him with despitefully spitting on the ground saying this is disgusting (Isaiah 53: 2-3). Then I noticed a woman with her husband and kids standing next to me. This woman was cursing nonstop, assuring He was a criminal like the other two who were crucified with Him. I looked at the woman and said “Aren’t you the woman that Jesus cured her daughter last year?” She said “Yes it is me, but how did you know me?” I answered, “I was there at that time.” Then I continue saying “But I am seeing you cursing, reviling, and assuring that the one who cured your daughter is a criminal!!” She said “Are you a stranger? Do not you know that the high priests and the Sanhedrin judged Him that He is guilty and deserves death?” Then she added, “And above all of these, the high priest challenging Him now saying ‘…come down from the cross.” Then she said “But as you see, He is so humiliated and weak. He cannot proof to the high priest and to us that He is able to come down from the cross.”

I did not answer her with a word but I looked at Jesus and said “My Lord I am sure that what hurts you more isn’t the scourge, the cross, or the nails, but it is the crying of those people who you were walking among.  To them you did all that was good; healing their sick, casting out their demons, raising their dead, and preaching to them about the kingdom of God. And now they are claiming that you are a criminal and that you deserve what you were punished with. As the high priests, scribes, and Pharisees shouting out saying

“Come down from the cross”