When they nailed you to the Tree, oh Lord,
they took three thick spikes
to suspend you there on Golgotha.

They wanted to shame you
before all the world,
taunt You to climb down
as Satan had done unto You
there in the desert.

They didn't know that's why
You directed them to put
You there on the tree in the first place.

What pain You must have suffered for us
as You took on all the sins of the world;
You, who are pure and holy,
not of this world, merely in it.

How much agony You must have endured,
starting with the thrust of that first spike
into Your right hand, just below the wrist.

As you numbed the pain from the first nail,
the second was hammered into place,
right where Your pulse beats the strongest.

What You must have done to block Your suffering
as the nailer drove that third spike through
the bones and sinew of Your feet;
the very feet Mary Magdelene had washed
with such reverence and loving tenderness.

What of the excruciating pain that came
when they lifted and shifted Your Cross into place,
the weight of Your body bearing more
than you ever thought possible?

Then, when you were up on the tree,
how Your blood must have caked down Your face,
punctured by their ironic Crown of Thorns.

Did the blood darken Your blessed eyes,
those eyes that offered up such promise for the world
if we would but believe without question?

As Your blood, pure and sanctified,
spurted onto each anonymous nailer,
did it sanctify or condemn them?

Even in their acts of revulsion,
your nailers would have been redeemed
if they had but asked Your forgiveness.

Yes, there could have been three souls
saved by the Pascal Lamb on that Day,
even before You took to Heaven the convict
who was crucified on the cross to Your right.

As You were violated by the sword,
thrust to make certain of Your death,
did pure, Heavenly energy flow from Your side?

What killed You, Lord,
wasn't the thorns
or the pain from the three nails,
nor the asphyxiation that came
from hanging on the tree.

Your death came from those invisible
clouds of sin you pulled deep into yourself.

You went from the sudden utter emptiness
of hanging suspended on the Cross
to being filled to the point of suffocation
by every sin Man has ever committed,
from the beginning of time to the end of forever.

In one moment, you erased them all.

Every sin crawled into your skin,
and clawed at your eyes like vultures;
each wanting to feast on Your soul
and gorge on Your spirit,
knowing they could
neither eat of Your flesh,
nor drink of Your blood.
How vile our worthless and empty lives
must have tasted to your uncorrupted lips.

But as You, the Sinless and Most Blameless One,
took into your Body all the sin of the world,
You became the wedge between us and Death and Damnation.

With the last sin absorbed,
your task was done,
your victory finally won.

Only then did you cry out in anguish,
"Father, why has't thou forsaken me?"

You love us more than we can ever deserve
and all You ask of us is that we believe
You are the answer to all our questions.

Those who were there to witness,
were they forever changed,
or did only a few look up and truly see?

As they took You down from the cross,
tornadoes began, followed by earthquakes.

Jesus, You told Him to forgive them
for they know not what they do,
but as You died, did the Father
become so angry with what man had done
to his only Begotten Son that He wanted
to destroy the world with One Word?

Was the earthquake at Golgotha
the Father's Hands as He began
ripping the Earth in two
right at the foot of the cross?

What if Jesus had not succeeded
when He interceded?

And what of those nails, Dear Lord,
which were covered in the very blood You promise
will save us all, if we but believe?

After You died to the world,
did they remove the nails
from Your lifeless body
and did they hide them in shame
long after You rose again?

Did the nailers finally ask Your forgiveness
and were they among the first to feel
the power of your Body and Blood?

Are the three nails from the Jesus Tree
still buried in some secret place on earth;
all we need do is seek and we shall find,
and because of Your blood do they
still hold power of a miraculous kind?

Or is it just enough to think the words,
knowing You are the Way, the Truth and the Life,
that seeking the nails is no longer necessary?