Are we amazed?

The holiest of days.  Good Friday.  
It's hard to breathe.  Words do not come easy.
It was the third hour when they nailed Jesus to the cross.

From the sixth to the ninth hour an inexplicable darkness covered the land.
Jesus then cried out in a loud voice, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

What to do with awful loss . . . ripping apart . . . feeling forsaken?
Is there not amazement, in experiencing great loss; life going on?
That everyone is not stopped in their tracks?
Gazing and somehow knowing life is forever altered.
Does it not show on the face, in the eyes?
The rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms; emotions swirl and eddy.

On that Friday the sun stopped shining.
God turned His back.
Jesus was forsaken.
Hung there on the cross.

It was evident in their faces; 
his loved ones, hovering nearby, 
bent low with grief.
Weeping.
Mary, his mother.  Her sister.  John, his best friend.  And others.
Sorrow beyond words.  Confusion and hurt.  Death and darkness. 
Life had been forever altered.

They didn't know that was the plan.  From the beginning.

But, today, we know.  It was always the plan.
Restoration, redemption, reconciliation, to bring back, repair.

Around the ninth hour Jesus bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
Saying, "It is finished."

The words hung there too.

For the religious leaders, 
the Roman guard, 
the enemy of this world, 
Jesus' loved ones and us today.

It is finished.

The most astonishing gift the world has ever seen.  
That He would die in our place. 

Life is forever altered.

Does it not stop us in our tracks?  Show on our face?  

Are we amazed?