Absurdities and Ironies

As Christ gave his final breath, the earth gave a sudden stir.  A rock rolled, and a soldier stumbled.  Then, as suddenly as the silence was broken, the silence returned.  And now all is quiet.  The mocking has ceased.  There is no one to mock.

The soldiers are busy with the business of cleaning up the dead.  Two men have come.  Dressed well and meaning well, they are given the body of Jesus.

And we are left with the relics of his death.  Three nails in a bin.  Three cross-shaped shadows.  A braided crown with scarlet tips.

Bizarre, isn’t it?  The thought that this blood is not man’s blood but God’s?

Crazy, isn’t it?  To think that these nails held your sins to a cross?…

Absurdities and ironies.  The hill of Calvary is nothing if not both.

1 of 365 devotionals in Grace for the Moment, Volume II
Originally excerpted from

He Chose the Nails