Love’s Gory Death, The Hope Of Humanity
by Rev. Br. Kenneth Chigozie Alamezie, BSS

Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? (Ish 53:1)
The report the prophet is referring to here is unarguably one that regardless of its controversial nature lasting two thousand and sixteen years now, if well understood and believed is capable of freeing people from any form of captivity they may be undergoing.
What could this report be, you may want to ask? It is simply this: that the second person of the Most Holy Trinity left his powerful throne in heaven to become a living soul, came down to earth to restore and reconcile humanity back to their creator, via his gruesome death on a tree.
You know, Christ Jesus could have decided not to come, not to tread his holy bronze feet on our soiled earth; yet he came, showing thus his love for the Father as well as the human race. And it is not only that he came to and for us, though soiled as we were--shedding his divinity for us to share in it, and taking up our humanity to heal it as well as teach us how to be truly human--but that this onerous feat he actually perfected once and for all by his death, dying however the gory death which we deserved.
Obedient he was to the Father’s will, yet obedience he learnt through the enormous suffering he endured just for our sake; Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.
Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief; but, these sorrows and grief he willingly took upon himself; and not for any selfish reasons that he did this, but so that his brothers and sisters, estranged as we were from the Father due to disobedience, might be fully restored to their rightful position in reuniting with Him, the eternally Good Father.
Yet they hid as it were their faces from him; and to this day, we have continued to hide, as it seems, our faces from him, as though he were one despised by God. Such they termed him then—one despised by God. Still we have not behaved differently, either. On our part, it appears we suppose he is one, who merely went to his own death, accidentally escaped the grave’s rotten claws. This we express one way or the other, either by our continued iniquitous behaviors, or by not wholly believing in the complete salvation wrought for us via his scornful but redeeming death on the cross.
Ours were the sorrows that he bore and the chastisement that befell him; Man of sorrows, deeply afflicted! One bruised by God for our healing, one rejected as it were for our peace, scorned by his brethren but never opened his mouth in retaliation, instead he gained us acceptance to the Father by his sorrowful passion endured in silence.
Nonetheless, they thought him to be suffering for his own sins, for speaking blasphemy against God and Moses; and we on our part have scarcely acknowledged what he truly purchased for us by his death. Does it still occur to us the reason he had to taste death, death on a tree? Do we realize he did not just die for dying sake, but because he had to? For only his shed spotless blood could have done what it did, and never our own works or sacrifices, no matter how mountainous they may seem to be. Oh… man of sorrows, one acquainted with grief!
Foreseeing the fate to befall him whilst in the garden, he shuddered vehemently, couldn’t keep erect since his knees wobbled as though dislocated from their joints.
Exiled from the beautiful garden on a Just judgment, the first Adam trembled upon hearing the sentence he rightly deserved; but at Gethsemane, another garden, the second Adam actually shed from the pores of his skin--blood mixed with sweat--healing thus the sweat of our brow. The Just penalty for man’s disobedience was meted out to him at the garden, and likewise the Just price to end it was revealed to the Son of man at a garden. Thus, what started with a tree has to end on the tree.
Ah, that tree of salvation; that tree upon which was wrought the long awaited miracle. That tree of mercy upon which was hung the battered body of the Beloved Son of God. That tree from which abundant mercy radiates that covers the Just sentence, which lust for the fruit of the former tree had brought upon us. That tree which rich grace unifies the whole human race; ah, that tree upon which the eternal sacrifice was made and from which flowed profusely the untainted blood of the lamb—the blood that speaks so much better things than that of the Just Abel’s. Oh, that tree—the Cross-—which saving power supersedes the one of its prototype erected by the saintly Moses, in the wilderness.
Indeed, great is the sacrifice of his death. Oh, very gory was the death he endured for our sake! His precious body severely wounded for our sins was so much crushed that the picture needed to be left us on Veronica’s scarf. His shoulder, although deeply battered by the heavy wooden tree, could not cease from carry it along that rocky Golgotha Street, and all because of love. Moreover, although exhausted, given to deep pain and thirst, yet he managed to drag the tree along to the Place of a Skull. Oh, man of sorrows, acquainted with grief!
Parched was his throat, which they fed vinegar for water. And his lips? So dried, broken, and soured they were, such that he could barely separate them from each other. Endless hard blows from the hardhearted Roman soldiers, spittle from passersby, disfigured his angelic face, which hitherto had shone with such overwhelming radiance. Scornfully they crowed his kingly head with the crown of thorns, and as a result, blood flowed profusely dampening his stunning eyes. Man of sorrows he is!
All eyes were on him as he hung stark naked on the tree-altar of sacrifice, and this caused his already broken heart to be pierced through by the sword of shame.
His heart that loves bled generously for love, utterly wounded for love. His healing palms, which heal with love, which caresses with love, were pierced through with the long Roman nails and this because of love. Love for his own led him to the grave, although immortal he is. Love handed him the cross and in exchange he handed us the crown. Love handed him a cup filled with vinegar and in exchange he handed us the chalice of his blood. For the sake of love for us, he became a curse, so that we may in turn become a blessing. Love made him taste death, so that we may live in everlasting happiness with him.
The Father’s will it was to bruise him, and that for our sake. The Father’s will it was to heap our sins on him so that we may in exchange receive his righteousness; Although he had committed no offense deserving death, yet to death he was sentenced, death on a cross. Tense was the pain that he actually cried out, ‘’Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’’
Thus, the Easter period is not merely a time to visit the market in search of chickens, goats, cows, etc to sentence to death by cooking, as it is a time for profound personal introspection with the aim of rediscovering our true selves, the true meaning of life on this side of the planet, and the true meaning of the celebration. This is that time of year when we are expected to free all those we’d hitherto sent to the hangman’s noose. This is the period to explore the true meaning of mercy, for lacking in proper understanding of the term ‘mercy’, apparently can lead to people walking past through the Church’s doors of mercy without mercy actually finding a place in them.
This holy week, may you be disposed to receive beyond your imagination the grace for metanoia, the grace for all-round salvation, and may your life never remain the same. Amen! God bless you!