Were You There?

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

This is an African-American spiritual about the crucifixion and death of Jesus, and our part in it. 

Watch a powerful version sung by Marion Williams here: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=xu_GW2osRVA

There's some real emotion behind her singing it. "Oh! It causes me to tremble." It shakes me up in the core of my being that the one we call the Son of God was so brutally murdered. That his best friends deserted and betrayed him and an angry mob screamed for him to be executed. 

Were you there?

Were you there when innocent lives were ended much too soon? When God's children screamed for help and no one came to their rescue? Were you there when they bled to death? Were you there when God's children were kidnapped, tortured, beaten and left for dead? Were you there when those who were supposed to protect them became their oppressors?

Or have you become numb against the pain because of all the news of violence and shootings? Just one more statistic. 

It would do us good to tremble though. It would make us more compassionate and, possibly, more angry. It would give us the passion to work against violence and for justice. And it would help us appreciate how much Jesus really does love us. 

And then, on Easter Sunday, may we all tremble as we shout: Halleluiah! The Lord is risen! 

May we tremble for joy that love is stronger than death, love stronger than hate, and God stronger than all evil. 

Were you there?