Stations of the Cross 10-12

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Occasional Impressions Prayer Collections Stations of the Cross 10. Jesus is crucified More than I care to admit I still think about it; such a long time ago, in that hot country where I served. With comrades, men trained for war, and not what passed for soldiering: keeping the peace among those strange people, disliking each other and hating us more The worst duty, crucifixion of another zealot, and my company detailed to carry it out after the interrogation that had gone on for hours. And the priests shouting at our Governor, while I stood with the prisoner, Jeshua ben Joseph; strange, that I can still remember his name. Good lads in my company, mostly Spanish, with a few French and Belgians thrown in, and all used to doing whatever job they were given without complaint. But even so, it didn’t sit pretty with us: executing that man; there was something about him, we could see he wasn’t the usual fanatic. So we pushed him along with the odd rifle butt in his back, to show the crowd, who as usual were divided, with some for the prisoner, but a lot yelling that he was a blasphemer; their damned religion again, making more trouble than it was worth, trouble to kill any man for. At the execution he was already done in, and he just looked around as though he shouldn’t be there. But the cameras too were there, and they caught it all, with me and my lads put to it to carry out the sentence; knowing we’d also be blamed, when the video went to air. Nobody dies well on a cross, that’s the point of it; so we did the job, not liking it, but not making it worse than it had to be; keeping our self respect and pride in the regiment. And we got him stripped and we got him up, and we did it as soldiers, trained to the job. And the tradition was that whatever he had was shared, and I saw that it was done that way, looking after my men. And the camera’s caught that too, a group of soldiers squatting, holding their rifles, helmets pushed back, sorting through his stuff, some of it quite good. And you can see it still, if you want; what the cameras showed, in the heat and dust, showing the lads grouped around the cross. And you don’t see a lot of him then; just his bare legs and his feet on the rest, and every now and then a flex, as he took his weight. But I never watched the later stuff, not even the bit when I said what I felt. It is a long time ago; and now I sit on my terrace, with the Alps and a glass of cold wine, remembering so much. That day the world changed, but we didn’t know it then. Just another execution; but people watched the video and so it began; and what I later said, well, they still come up here and ask me again. But no, I don’t know now; a man died, and that was more than enough. Dougie Moody 11. Jesus promises the kingdom to the penitent thief One of the soldiers on Golgotha These heathen think there is only one God. That’s like saying there is only Jupiter. Dumb idea. And they have this other crazy idea of a Messiah. A bridge between God and us. Are they getting on well up there, these three? I’ve hung how many - at least four or five hundred over the years. Keeping The Empire safe. Realpolitik. But this one in the centre is slightly different from most of them. Back there at the Procurator’s, I really lashed him, but no cry came out. Nor here when I hammered in the nails. What’s he saying now, to the one on the right? Heh, what’s that Cyrene dolt doing here? Ask him. “Cyrene, you speak Latin?” “Some.” “What did the King of the Jews just say to the one on the right?” “He said, ‘...today you will be with me in Paradise.’” Hmmm... none of the four or five hundred talked like that. Crying out, fainting... but none of them said things like that. Getting darker. Let’s finish them off and get back to barracks. Rumours are that this tour is soon coming to an end. We to be pulled back, for a spot of R & R. Hopefully to dear old Rome. I’m getting too old for all this. Feet up in my local pub. Finally a pint of real ale, after all this muck we’ve been drinking. All the local news and gossip How we’ll laugh and laugh. But..... ‘today... you will be... with me..... in Paradise...’ Peter Grant 12. Jesus on the cross, his mother and his friend Four soldiers do their job and kill a man They divide his possessions as part of the transaction The man dies in agony Nails smashed through his flesh and bones His cousin looks on in despair As his hopes die with his Lord Four women watch the vile death of their beloved Son, nephew, companion, teacher, Lord Caring love of mothers and aunts Loyal bonds of cousins and friends Agonising impotence in the present Desperate fear for the future Cousin, my mother is your mother Take her in, care for her and love God together How can he still provide for us, even at the point of death? When we, still alive, can do nothing but despair Barnaby Perks

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