Here in Nsoko, Swaziland, a group of my squad mates and I meet with a team leader and our wonderful host David once a week to learn more about worship. A few weeks ago they instructed us to write a song, poem or story from the perspective of a person in the Bible. I chose the man who nailed Jesus to the cross. While the person who nailed Jesus is not mentioned in the Bible, this man no doubt was real. God laid this story on my heart about a year and a half ago and now gave me the opportunity to finally go through with it.
“I was given the command one evening to go arrest a man named Jesus. I had heard of Him and he things He had done. I heard that He healed the sick, opened blind eyes and cast out demons. There was a part of me that wondered why we were arresting Him. When we brought Him in front of Pilate, he saw Him as an innocent man. He gave the crowd a choice; Jesus or Barabbas? They chose Jesus and shouted over and over for Him to be crucified. Pilate washed his hands and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.” This sent shivers down my spine. My colleagues and I were ordered to take Jesus to the governors headquarters. We mocked Him, we spit on Him, we made Him a crown of thorns and dug it into His head. He never begged for it to stop, He sat there silently, as if He knew this had to happen. We brought Jesus out and gave Him His cross to carry. As I watched Him carry the cross up the hill to be crucified, it seemed as though He had the weight of the world on His shoulders. I watched Him stand between two men who were also there to be crucified for crimes they were surely guilty of. That’s when I heard my call, I was the one who had to nail Jesus to the cross. I walked close to Him, this man was different from the others I had crucified before. He never struggled or fought it. He willingly laid there on the cross, arms stretched out. I slowly drew the nails into Him and stepped back to let my colleagues mount the cross. We sat awhile waiting for Him to die. Finally at the ninth hour we hear Jesus cry out, “My God, My God, why have Your forsaken Me?” And at that moment we heard Him give out a final cry and breath His last breath. Suddenly the sky grew dark, the earth trembled, rocks were split, and the veil was torn. It was then that my heart sank an my soul was crushed. I looked at Jesus and finally saw Him for who He truly is; the Son of God. I fell to my knees and wept. I saw Him hanging there, all my sin and shame nailed to the cross; and I was the one who put Him there. The good news is, is that I heard three days later that He was alive.
My heart rejoiced.
He is alive.”
