The Centurion

duty called to oversee a

verdict fulfilled for One who

though recently received

with cries of exaltation

as the Messiah-King now 

was being self-righteously 

condemned to die despised... 

rejected... mocked and scorned 

then shredded and crowned with 

thorns in feigned adulation of 

the new King of the Jews who

then commenced a Royal 

procession to His place of

Enthronement as faces turned 

away from His appalling 

appearance while in silent 

Dignity He desperately crept 

under what I now understand 

was the weight of the world's 

guilt to His place of punishment 

there to perish in a spectacle of 

torturous death as Passover's

spotless Lamb who midst the guilty 

was welcomed by the din of 

haughty jeers impatiently clamoring 

for a miraculous sign to prove 

His claimed Divinity yet the

bedlam was overwhelmed by the 

stately silence of a Mother’s 

enduring presence which helped 

transform two hearts into One each 

bearing the other's burden without 

complaint producing a Conflicted

Innocence which nevertheless bore 

the sentence with Majestic Humility 

in an extreme solution for an extreme 

dilemma for One whose unrequited 

Love so freely bestowed seemingly 

found no home but mine and as He 

breathed His last Surrender darkness 

came as Light departed and by 

pierced efficiency water and Blood 

entwined washing guilt away birthing 

a new conviction in me which fulfilled 

an ignorant need - a Revelation born 

from a Sacrificial Purchase - which

pointed me in a new direction as

reverent tenderness gently lowered Him 

from His Throne into His Mother’s arms

and while she caressed Him with final 

kisses and bathed Him with tears of 

mourning's dew I was left longing for

something more...

Reflection/Discussion:

-How does "The Centurion" make the crucifixion personal?

-Describe Mary's response.

-What does Mary's response tell us about how we can respond to suffering?

-What does 'Conflicted Innocence' mean?

-What does 'Majestic Humility' mean?

-What does 'an extreme solution for an extreme dilemma' mean?

-What does 'unrequited Love' mean?

-What was the 'ignorant need' of the Centurion?

-What was the "something more" for the Centurion?

-Describe what you have done to deserve all this.

- How does the Lord's Passion affect your walk with the Lord?