Twelve men and more
put their lives on the line.
Twelve men and more
received violence and torture.
Twelve men and more
endured hunger and fatigue.
Twelve men and more
shivered behind bars as they sang.
Ten men and more were cruelly killed.
Every last one knew
this fate was most likely.
So why would they
do this just to play a hoax?
They could have said
no. Turned their backs on the cause.
Recanted their
belief, gained relief from their pain.
They might have
scammed a multitude, led the foolish on by lies,
Perhaps become
famous, built an empire on their fictions,
Bowing down to
Caesar, dedicating a religion to him,
A palace of their
own, daily tea with the Emperor.
Instead they gave up
everything, well-being and life itself,
All to proclaim what
they claimed to have witnessed –
That a man who'd
been killed,
Who had a spear run
through his heart,
Who was mummified,
sealed in a tomb,
This man was
alive again.
How, they said?
By nothing short of
what the man had claimed –
That he was God in
human form,
That the power of
God had resurrected him,
And that every power
on earth lay beneath him, even Caesar,
For he had power
over Death itself,
And he would one day
judge the world for all its crimes,
Which if not
sought forgiveness for, and freedom from in Him,
Would bring the offender to
condemnation.
Twelve men and more
risked their lives for a task,
Twelve men and more
gave up everything,
Because to them none
of it mattered.
It would be gone
when they were gone.
But God's kingdom is forever,
And they believed
they would share in Jesus' resurrection,
Themselves becoming
forever as he is.
What convinced
twelve men and more to think this way?
Could it have
been what they claimed was true?
That is powerful.
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