The Via Dolorosa, Station 11, cont.

And now let’s picture the scene – not as one gazing up at the cross – but rather from the perspective of Jesus looking down. He is taking it all in through swollen eyes. There is a crowd gathered. There are soldiers milling about. There’s the predictable gathering of the morbidly curious. There are the religious antagonists. And littered about the Place of the Skull are human remains. Those sad remnants attract the attention of curious and hungry carrion. They pick at the dried flesh of the long dead. The sky and ground is filled with these janitors of nature. The stench is overwhelming. There are insects buzzing about. The blood trickling down Jesus’ face from the crown of thorns teases the nerves. He is unable to rub away the tickling sensation of the seeping fluid. This small discomfort becomes an outsized if unheralded part of the torture.

Renal Failure is a pathologic state part or complete loss of kidney function. levitra generico uk http://deeprootsmag.org/tag/doyle-lawson-quicksilver/ Erectile Dysfunction canada generic viagra is a crucial sentinel marker for heart disease. Thus, the viagra 100mg sildenafil restlessness of having their unresolved problem remains there. The therapy involves exploring her feelings about sex, helping her gain an insight into her relationship with her partner and also about canadian pharmacy levitra herself. There are the occasional mocking shouts. Jesus can hear the sobs of others. But it’s the staring, those long stretches of human silence that stand out. It is a spectacle. Both friend and foe are waiting and watching. There are a few in the crowd, half-convinced, who wish to see a performance: Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”  In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him.  “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.  He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ~Matthew 27:39-43

True belief is never built on a quid pro quo. For the crowd to say, “Jesus, if you’ll do this, then we’ll believe.”, would no doubt create a temporary sensation. But the shallowness of such an arrangement would sully both heaven and earth. The jeering crowd didn’t need a show, they needed a Savior.