Scarlet Drops: An Easter Poem

Drip, drip, drip

Scarlett drops streak down His face

A Man is sweating blood

In agony His heart does rip

Will He choose life or sacrifice?

Is not a question one need ask

For there is no better reason to die than love

He breathes in deep

And breathes out slow

Around Him the darkness seeps

He puts Himself on the death row

The crowd lurks closer

He could cast them to their knees

Instead He hands His own will over

As silent as a sheep.

Drip, drip, drip

Scarlet drops streak down His back

Torn, sliced, His skin rips

Over and over the whip cracks

“Release!” The governor tries

“Barabbas!” The crowd cries

A King for a sinner

The crowd asks for a murderer

All sense is turned on its head

How could they want their Healer dead?

A purple robe for a rejected King

Sticking, pulling, turning red

Thorns are twisted into a ring

A makeshift crown pressed on His head.

Drip, drip, drip

Scarlet drops streak over His eyes

Storm clouds begin to darken the skies

The clang hammer on spike

The groan and creak of rising tree

Onlookers bend in mockery

To the greatest One of the tortured three

The King stays on the cross

Not because He can’t get off

But because of His love for the lost

“It is finished” He says into the night

Darkness and death swallow

The One who created life and light.

Drip, drip, drip

Salty drops streak down their faces

As their fallen Hero is placed in stone

Hearts heavy and chilled to the bone

All is silent and still on earth

But behind a curtain

The spirit world roars

As the King of heaven bursts through death’s doors

Leaving them ripped from their hinges

With a broken lock

Drip, drip, drip

Sparkling drops of morning dew

The cage of death is cracked and empty

The King returns in life anew

His heel is scarred, He crushed the enemy

And brokenness is turned on its head

As life fills what once was dead

The darkest day in history

Became the beginning of the most glorious victory.

Death Defying Victory

So often we highlight the sacrifice of Easter, Christ trading His life for ours and taking our punishment.

Rarely do we consider it as the tide shifting battle in the war of the ages.

Rarely do we remember that it defines death defying victory.

Rarely do we look at it as our King plunging His sword into the heart of the enemy and his allies.

Good Friday. Holy Saturday. Resurrection Sunday. Each a part of the greatest victory in history. God comes in the form of a man, takes on death and sin single handedly, and wins.

We are not just saved from punishment. We can stare down sin and say, “You have no power over me!” We can look death in the face and say, “Where is your victory and sting?”

At the death of the Son the enemy thought he had won—thwarting the plans of God and the only hope mankind had.

But what he forgot is that in order to beat death, Jesus had to face death. What seemed like the end of the battle was just the beginning of the victory. What seemed like the end of the story was just the beginning of a new chapter.