Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Almighty (10/03/24)
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TITLE: No more words | Previous Challenge Entry
By Catherine Green
10/09/24 -
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The death scene that had been sombre and sobbingly silent a few seconds ago, was now filled with screams and cries that echoed around the hillside. People staggered, swayed and stumbled as the terra firma fell away. Confusion took control.
The Sanhedrin, who had been quietly celebrating their success in nullifying an annoying, blasphemous heretic, rushed down to the temple; blue robes flying in an outward sign of their lost composure. They ran through the courtyards until they reached the main sanctuary doors. They were met by scores of priests spilling out over the threshold, shouting incoherently about God’s judgement and being struck dead.
One of the elders brushed past the crowd, determined to find out what was causing such chaos in the normally ordered lives of the Levites. He strode assertively into the sanctuary, only to have his confidence melt away as he surveyed the scene before him. The earthquake had done its damage. The golden lampstand rested at an angle on the floor; the last of its flames flickering out. Broken and crushed loaves lay scattered around the Showbread Table. The whole sacrificial area had been decimated.
He looked beyond the initial damage and froze in terror as he gazed straight into the Holy of Holies. A place so sacred that only the High Priest was allowed to set his eyes on it. The strong, heavy curtain that had separated the two rooms for generations had been split in two, hanging precariously from its golden rods. The ‘veil’ was rent from top to bottom. The carefully woven linen had been designed to be unbreakable. It was sixty feet high and the thickness of a man’s hand. Faded purple, blue and scarlet threads hung in tatters. God’s divine dwelling place had been ripped open.
By now the other Sanhedrin had walked, tentatively, into the room. No one spoke. It was incomprehensible. The shock was palpable. How were they still alive? They had all gazed into the Holy of Holies and still had breath in their lungs. They backed out of the room, bowing and gazing at the floor. They needed to convene the council immediately. What could all of this possibly mean? Whatever it was, it needed to be managed.
Outside the gates of Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha, one of the centurions who had been posted to keep the crowd in check, during the execution, remained at his station. He stood courageous, holding fast to the base of the cross with three corpses for company. The screams had stopped, the birds had flown, taking their screeches with them and even the city’s dogs had stopped their terrified barking.
The silence was deafening.
The look of fear slowly drained from his eyes as he stared up at the broken body of Jesus the Nazarene. He knew that today he had witnessed much more than just the execution of yet another prisoner. He had heard the man’s dying words ‘It is finished’. And in that moment the heavy shield of defence that he held to protect his heart, become a shield of faith. He held his head high and said in a loud voice, so that his fellow guards and the few remaining witnesses lying prostrate on the ground could hear him… ‘Surely this man was the Son of God’.
There were no more words to be said.
Matthew 27:51
Mark 15: 38
Luke 23: 44
John 19: 30
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Blessings
Great job on your writing.
Thank you.