day twenty one moment

"I want to recover the truth
that Jesus was not crucified on an altar between two candlesticks
but on a garbage heap
at a crossroads of the world
where soldiers gambled
and cynics talked smut."
George McCloud

they brought him to the place Golgotha
which is translated
place of a skull
Mark 15:22

2 criminals begin to climb the small hill outside Jerusalem's Gennoth gate
the One is still at the bottom
trying to muster enough strength

who named this place

what is this man Jesus thinking as he stumbles the final steps to his death
is there fear of what is to come
is he lonely
is he wondering ............

even so he refuses to drink fully of the offered cup
of sour wine mixed with myrrh
to mask pain and dull the senses

barely a trace passes his lips before he hands it back

does he remember the garden
when he accepted and drank that whole cup

the blood of the lamb soon to be spilled
on an altar fashioned before the foundation of the world.

Jesus suffers outside the gate

how can I ever truly fully appreciate all he endured

for me

and I breathe deeply the aroma of his death
so that it might permeate my heart of hearts