Were You There?

Luke 23:35 "And the people stood beholding.And the rulers also with them derided him, saying He saved others; lt Him save Himself if he be Christ,the chosen of God."

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?There is an old negro spiritual which ask this question,the obvious answer to most people is no.No person alive today could have been there.But the spiritual is insistent as it says were you there.Believe it or not many of us were there.The text says and the people stooding watching,let us look into the crowd and see who was there.

 Nicodemus was there in all his judicial pride.The man who came secretly to Jesus to inquire of salvation,who called Him Rabbi, and Master,who even helped bury Him,yet stood by in His pride and said nothing as they crucified my Lord.So if you have ever let pride hinder your service to the Lord, you were there.Judas Iscariot was there,led by greed,selling out the master under the disguise of friendship yes he was there.If you have ever put selfish gain before the service of the Lord yes you were there.Peter was there,he drew his sword to defend Jesus while he was near, yet followed Him afar and denied Him when a witness was needed.If you have ever denied the Lord in word or deed when a witness was needed ,yes you were there.The religious leaders were there,caring more about the temple and tridition that the Savior and salvation,seeking to destroy Him before they would surrender to His power.If you put tridition before truth, caring more about church image more than church duty, you were there.The centurian was there,he witness the miracle of the restoration of the ear,he heard the words and prayers of Jesus from the cross,he saw something more than man dying on the cross, "for surly this is the Son of God",If you have ever heard the word of God and profess Jesus as the Christ the Son of the living God, you were there.

So I ask were you there?Maybe not physically,but because of our sins the Lord was crucified,our sins of pride,greed,cowardice,neglect and fear and more all nailed Him to the cross.As our sins were gathered at the cross,so we must return to the cross to be delievered from our sins.Were you there?