If the Man on the Cross Were You

IF THE MAN ON THE CROSS WERE YOU 
by Bradford Smith

Imagine being scared,

More scared than you've ever been.

Imagine being betrayed,

At the hands of your closest friends.

Imagine so much stress,

Blood starts seeping from your pores.

Imagine absolute terror,

More pain than you've ever endured.

Imagine hitting your knees,

The weight of the world on your shoulders.

Imagine you get abandoned,

That world all around you grows colder.

Imagine living your life

Accountable for all that you do

Imagine these things and answer

What if the man on the cross, were you?

Picture if you can, a garden,

Where you and your friends are praying,

And knowing what is now to come,

The agony you feel, from waiting.

Picture if you can, betrayal,

A figurative knife in your back.

A kiss once meant to be beautiful,

Is now the thing that paints a soul black

Picture if you can, the cowards,

Who come in the middle of the night,

Arrest you without any reason,

Yet you give up without a fight.

Picture if you can, forgiveness,

Is a gift that's not meant for you.

Can you truly feel yet the horror,

If the man on the cross were you?

Feel for yourself, the slander,

The mockery, ridicule, and hate,

All paling in comparison to

The injustice of what still awaits.

Feel for yourself, sheer torture,

As the barbs sink into your skin,

Tearing . . . ripping . . . removing flesh

Again… and again…… and again.

Feel for yourself, agony,

As the torture just will not end.

Your neck, shoulders, and back,

Are completely devoid of skin.

Feel for yourself, a blessing,

It wasn't your meat cleaved from the bone.

Knowing with all that you've done,

It should have been you on that stone.

Put yourself in His sandals,

And the cross on your bloodied back.

Take the walk to your death

And one final, brutal, attack.

Put yourself in His sandals

Let a woman wipe off your face

On your knees from weakness,

Feeling your final human embrace.

Put yourself in His sandals

As you walk slowly up that hill.

Accepting of your fate

Because you know it is His Will.

Put yourself in His sandals,

All the pain that He's been through,

Picture what it would be like

If the man on the cross were you.

Lay there on the cross,

With your arms spread open wide,

You're bloodied, bruised, and beaten

And now prepared to die.

Lay there on the cross,

As the nails first touch your hands,

Watch then as the hammer drops

And iron enters man.

Lay there on the cross,

As pain pulses through your core,

Your hands pinned to the wood,

Knowing there will be more.

Lay there in His place,

With the knowledge all hope is lost,

With the full appreciation that

It should be you on that cross

Experience the anguish,

As the nail goes through your feet.

You are nearly finished now,

Your journey finally complete.

Experience the anguish,

As your mother looks you in the eye,

Feel the pain she can't describe,

As she watches her only son die.

Experience the anguish,

As the cross goes in the air.

As it thuds into its hole,

You say your final prayer.

Experience the anguish,

Of all that you've been through,

Realizing it would be just,

If the man on the cross were you.

Death is now finally here

As your breath escapes your lungs,

Taking sin and making it yours,

Your work here on earth is done.

Death is now finally here,

And your Father can not watch,

A spear is dug into your side,

To be sure your heart has stopped.

Death is now finally here,

Now look at the man you've killed

Just hanging there on that cross,

His purpose has been fulfilled.

Death is now finally here,

And God is looking at you,

Trembling, you finally realize,

What if the man on the cross, were you?