Thief On A Cross 13

April 18, 2014

In light of Good Friday and Easter, I have composed a poem from the perspective of the thief on the cross beside our Lord. For me, it is easy to treat the Bible as a book and not as a recording. These people actually existed, and perhaps this poem will bring to light what this man may have been thinking.

THIEF ON A CROSS

The wooden splinters scrape my back.

I gasp again in pain.

My sinking shoulders sorely lack

The strength to fight the strain.

Yet all my hurt seems very pale.

The King beside me weeps.

He weeps not for the iron nails

That bruise His hands and feet.

I see a Man - yet more I see!

This Jesus must be real!

He did not earn his agony

Like the curse which I now feel.

But this Man suffers so much more

I scare can take it in.

"Why do You forsake Me, My Lord?"
He cries for all my sin.

I see Him drooping sadly there.

The Trinity is torn.

His royal head and bloodied hair

Is graced by my sharp thorns.

He pleads that God forgive us all

For we don't know what we do,

But as His chest begins to fall,

A tear falls with it too.

"My God!" I cry, and up looks He

And sees my desperate plight.

"Jesus Christ, remember me

In Your kingdom's glorious light."

And in the Savior's eyes I see

The sins which I had done.

The price for all my treachery

Is paid for by God' Son.

"My child," He says through all His pain,

"I knew that you would come.

One last sheep that I should gain

Before my task was done."

"Your faith has made you well," says He.

"This cross will all suffice.

I prayed for you in Gethsemane.

Prepare for Paradise."

"It is finished," He cries into the dark

And nature buckles under.

The wrath of God in fiery sparks

Is fulfilled and bursts asunder.

The separation has run its course.

The veil now tears in half.

The earth now quakes with all the force

Of God's love and God's wrath.

I watch the Shepherd bow his head.

He has made for us a Way.

In three days, He will not be dead

For then it will be Sunday.

I now die in total bliss.

A joy sustains my faith.

Christ is gained by total risk

For those who run the race.

Those nail-pierced hands now beckon me.

I am saved from all disaster.

"For you have suffered diligently.

Enter the joy of your Master."

~ The Fragile Grey Heart

Luke 23:40-43: "But the other rebuked him, saying, 'Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.' And he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.' And He said to him, 'Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.'"