The nail makes you think

Last night, on Good Friday evening, a friend invited me to join her at a special Easter presentation at a local Baptist church.

Titled, "The Path to the Cross," the program featured live actors at various stations along a wooded path. The men, women, and children were in full costume acting out scenes from the Bible that began with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem at Passover.

When I was a child, we always went to my grandparents' house at Easter and invariably someone would have the TV on with the Hollywood version of the Easter story. The scene on Calvary never failed to grab my attention and I pondered the logistics of crucifixion.

As I got older I usually tried to skip that part of the movie and eventually I got to the point where the crucifixion part of the story was so distasteful that I glossed over it altogether when reading or thinking about the life of Jesus.

A couple of years ago, I read an interesting book by a Catholic priest in which he explored the significance of the handful of brief statements Jesus made while on the cross. The author implores the reader not to rush past the horror of the crucifixion but to instead linger and ruminate on all that it was and all that it represents today.

Sounds a little masochistic or perhaps voyeuristic until you stop and think about why the crucifixion is so integral.

It fulfills Old Testament prophecy, for one thing. It also bears witness to life in the Roman Empire at the time Jesus was sentenced -- crucifixion was a uniquely Romanesque way of dealing with criminals.

But more than that, the crucifixion stands even today as the ultimate example of forgiveness, humility, and sacrifice.

In a world where the "I" is often more important than the "you" and where self-love and self-interest too often drive the choices people make, it's no wonder we're craving selflessness. Who among us isn't wishing for more initiative, more cooperation, more giving and less taking? Who doesn't long to be forgiven for even the worst commission of sin?

As my friend and I prepared to enter the curtained portion of our journey -- the one with three men who appeared much too realistically to be nailed to crosses -- I took a deep breath. It's one thing to see crucifixion depicted on television and quite another to see it up close and in person.

Passing through the parted curtain, we were each handed a long, flat square-head nail, a replica of the type that might have been used in Jesus' day. I put mine in my pocket and kept walking.

As our group stood watching the men on the crosses, hearing the actor who was portraying Jesus recite the lines that for so many Christians are so familiar and so heartbreaking, I fingered the nail in my pocket and for the first time in my life actually appreciated the saddest part of the story.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor. 1:18)

The wrath of men and the power of God, the crucifixion and the resurrection -- Easter is all that.

I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6). I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:25-26).

I do, and I hope that you do, too.