Were You There?

Topic: Cross, Children

A Pastor in the pacific Northwest tells of the dramatization of Christ's trial and crucifixion by the youth group at his church. The youth director played the role of Christ, the youth the jeering mob.

"Crucify him! Crucify him!" they shouted, and then they dragged the youth director into the back yard of the church and hung hi up on a improvised cross. The pastor stood to the side of the assembly, to "see how the drama was going." The youth were hushed now, as "Christ" hung there and spoke these words to the youth group: "Even though you are doing this to me, I still love you." And then, the pastor noticed an eight-year-old girl standing in the front of the group, transfixed by the scene. He looked at her and saw real tears streaming down her face.

"And," the pastor states, "I was envious of her." For us "professionals" it was a "performance." For her, it was the real thing. She was there.

So often you and I come to a Good Friday service and merely observe what is happening to Christ. W are uninvolved spectators. And yet the savior of the world is hanging there, suffering and dying for your and my sins on the cross.

Donald Deffner, Seasonal Illustrations, Resource, 1992, 46.