Stations of The Cross - Second Station

Jesus betrayed by Judas and arrested.

 

                    Mark 14:  43-46

 

      When we came upon him in the

      Olive grove, I kissed my Lord,

      And his tears tasted sweet.

      They should have tasted of salt,

      But instead, they tasted sweet.

 

They will lie when they speak my name.

yet it was I, the accursed who grasped

his hand  and forced it into the flame.

I, who saw the paradox, by which the

worst Is the corruption of the best so

he and I as guilty men shared the blame.

 

Along with her Messiah, I saw that Israel

must pass through the fire. As Rome

became both the judgement and the

punishment for sin; with no salvation,

except in suffering: the cup of humiliation

drunk to the bitter dregs to save the nation,

with my hopes, my ideals invested in him

 

They say a prophet begins well, finding

a following, seeing it grow. But pride

is in a man if not inspired, when all that

was once good becomes mired in deceit

or worse, the sin of conceit; and it was

the ride on the donkey, and the ululating  

crowds, and then what I saw as pride.

 

If  only he had been true to his promise,

I could have kept him straight, via the path

of subjection and through the narrow gate.

Then came the sop of favour and with it the

dreadful doubt; was I to be the means of his

death and did my rejection only serve my hate?

                                  

They will say what a good man was in Jesus,

A prophet - not the Son of God. Yet it was I,

who, by betraying the Prophet instead revealed

the God. And I walked not by faith but by proof,

as, too late, I realised the truth About sin; only

the untainted priest could ever be truly innocent.

 

Who can save me from the horror of myself?

I, who helped to murder the Christ! If I climb

to Heaven, He is there. If I descend to Hell,

He is there. I Could crawl to the cross to beg

forgiveness but his innocence would sear like

a flame, I cannot be saved; I will take the blame.

I must own my disgrace – I shall go to my place.

 

 Images  from Wikimedia Commons: Jörn Droemann.

                 

                   © D G Moody 2022