Final Reckoning

His eyes stung as tears and sweat dripped into them. Every fiber of his being cried out for mercy as he lugged the heavy wooden beams of his cross.
He looked a frail excuse for a human being; his back scarred beyond recognition and wounds and gashes in every imaginable place.
"How dare you call yourself the Son of God!" A man detested spitting at him.
He stopped for a moment and gave the man a compassionate look before the Roman guards on either side egged him on.

The priest entered the Temple adorned in his best robes. It was that time of year again to atone for humanity's sins in the form of lamb's blood which he held in a golden boll.
There was a cord attached his ankle should the presence of The most Holy One overwhelm his physical body to its breaking point.
Taking a deep breath his walked in and stood before the veil that separated him from the closest earthly thing to Heaven itself.
The veil was thick and wide supported by golden brackets to the door frame.
The fabric rippled with a low steady rhythmic beat from beyond it.
Something was different. He could feel it.

"Crucify him!"
"Who do you think you are Jesus!"
The crowds intensifying shouts came. The verbal assaults bashed Jesus's morale as much as the wounds bashed his body.
Finally they came to a small hill where two other crosses with victims hanging in misery waited for him.
He was stripped of his clothes, fully exposed, and then the guards had the crossbeam nailed to his wrists. Each stroke of the hammers bringing a new meaning to the word pain.
Attached to this he was then attached to the rest of the cross with the crowd jeering at him from his exposed position. Even now he could feel their worries, doubts, hidden pains, rushing at him. His breath grew short.

The priest entered past the curtain and passed through the fist chamber. The air grew thicker and his heart started to race.

Jesus gasped for breath. For a split second he was able to see through everyone in the crowd and see the depth of corruption.
He could do that already; but this time it was involuntary. This world was becoming a blur as the sun slowly cooked him alive.

The priest passed through into the second chamber. His heart racing, his hands trembling, his senses on high alert.

The pain shuddered through his body as he began to loose his perception of time. Splinters dug into his back. The pain almost numbing.
It couldn't get worst.
And then his legs were broken. If there was any pain his body didn't care to tell him.
He breathed heavy breaths as he saw a dark shadow in the corner of his eye.

Finally the priest entered the third and final chamber. The air was heaviest here and before him stood that sacred object the Ark of the Covenant. He felt as if he should say sometime but he didn't know what.
He just kneeled and poured the blood on the Ark. As he did so it boiled and hissed as the Law was appeased until the blood evaporated into the air.

"Father. Forgive them. For they know not what they do." Jesus said as all of human history, every sin, every wrong doing against God and Man flashed before him. He tried to breath as the scope of it all overwhelmed him and he released his final breath.

The priest rose in the heavy presence. The deed done.

Riding the currents of His Father's love He ascended through the First Heaven, the Second Heaven, and the Third Heaven until he awoke before his Father the Creator of All.
"It is finished." He said with the utmost respect.
"Well done My Son." Came the Father's voice carrying a deep mellow tone.
"I must return and tell Them of Our victory. They must hear the good news."
Jesus felt his Father smile upon him and then came the whisper of a whisper; "Go." it said. And He smiled a white smile before vanishing in a burst of white light.

The priest sat on the steps outside the Temple as he watched the first rays of sunlight peak over the horizon which had three crosses from yesterday's capital punishment starkly outlined.
As he sat there a new hope arose in him. This was a good day to be alive.