MEA CULPA

Are we not prone to look down on those who participated in Jesus' death and consider them more guilty than we? The truth is that we are more guilty than them all put together for it was for our sins that He died. Judas, Pilate, Barnabas, and the Roman soldiers were only the instruments used to crucify the Son of God; we were the guilty ones, the reason that He died, and our guilt piles up to the heavens and beyond, like thunder clouds, far exceeding theirs.

I was Judas, who with a kiss,
Betrayed Him in the garden; this
Was my doing on that day,
As all my sins on Him were laid.

My sinful acts were like the lash
That opened every wound and gash;
Every deed that I had done
Brought this horror to the Son.

'Twas my iniquities adorned
His head just as the crown of thorns;
My each and every evil deed
Caused the precious Lamb to bleed.

I, the Pilate, who decreed
That the Lamb of God must bleed;
'Twas my hypocrisy that day
That made them carry Him away.

No Roman soldier more than I
Caused the Son of God to die.
It was my sins that nailed Him there,
Lord Jesus Christ, so sweet, so fair.

Three nails impaled Him on the tree -
My passions, lust, and cruelty;
The things I did, and said and thought
All this cruel torture wrought.

The spear that pierced my Savior's side
Was my pride I cannot hide,
That made the blood and water flow,
These were the things that hurt Him so.

The lightning flashed, the thunder rolled,
And I the Barnabas who sold
The Son of God to bleed and die
And buy for me eternal life.