Jesus said, "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour." John 12:27 (NKJV)
The Precious Drops - A Good Friday Meditation
The wounds on his hands bled slowly. Pressure from the weight of his body hanging from the cross held back the flow of blood. If there had been no other sounds that afternoon, it probably would have sounded like the slow - steady drip of rain drops falling off the eaves of a house on a damp foggy night.
But there were many sounds. The taunts of the soldiers, weeping and wailing from the women near the feet of Jesus and even the careless laughter from the children playing haphazardly around the perimeter of the crowd.
Small puddles had formed at the foot of the cross. No – not from rain drops – for it had not rained that day. The puddles were from blood that was dripping down. Drip… Drip … Drip… The blood came from his hands – flowing down the top beam of the cross – and for a moment it would hang there. But then as more would gather it would drip. Drip … Drip … Drip… little droplets seen but not heard.
Mary saw the drops. She stared at the puddle through her bloodshot eyes. Eyes that had seem him on the day of his birth. Eyes that had looked at him as he grew up. Eyes that had seen him become a man. Eyes that now looked at him – dying. Drip … Drip … Drip… With every drop she knew that life was going out of him.
She slowly turned her tear-stained eyes up to his face. She found it hard to breath. He already had his eyes on her. It was the first time he had looked at her as he hung on the cross. She – standing below him – felt as if she were in a bottomless pit. She looked until she could look no more. Once more her gaze went back the puddles on the ground. The dripping still continued – Drip … Drip … Drip …
She then heard the words come out of his mouth, “Woman, behold your son.”
Soon after that he yelled, “It is finished.” Soon after that the ground shook. Soon after that the dripping stopped.
The world seemed to stop its rotation too.
Life as Mary knew it had come to an end.
How long she stood there she did not know – it seemed like years. The next thing she remembers is that the guards had come to break the legs of the criminals. They did not want them to live into the Sabbath.
When the guards came to Jesus one of them cried out, “No need to break his legs – he’s already dead.” Another said, “Let’s be sure.” One of them approached the body of Jesus – and in a flash a spear was plunged into his side.
Then it started all over again. The blood mixed with water ran down his side – onto his legs and eventually reaching his feet. It hung there for a minute – then – Drip … Drip … Drip…
Precious drops of blood that would set us free – forever.
