A man wearing a simple black suit walked onto the street and placing a small soapbox on the ground stepped onto it and cleared his throat slightly before beginning to speak.

“Good evening friends, I am Pastor Charles and I hope you will give me but a moment of your time as we approach Easter Sunday. I realize that given your line of work thoughts of salvation may be far from your hearts, but no matter where your thoughts may be the thoughts of the one who was resurrected all those years ago are firmly planted upon you. See, the grace of God surpasses anything you think might separate you – and I would like to tell you a short story that is especially impactful given the current season that I believe gives us a glimpse of that grace.”

The man reaches into his pocket and removes some notes and a small Bible before clearing his throat and continuing on.

“Throughout the Bible we have reference to God's grace saving us. I'm not going to turn to go over all of them but one of the most recognizable might be Romans 3:23-24 which, in the ESV Bible reads:

‘Rom 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (24) and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.’”

“This verse tells us that because of God's grace we have been set free from the power of sin through Christ. As clear as this verse make it, however, I know that I sometimes still have that nagging thought in the back of my mind that it can't be that easy. It can't be as simple as saying a prayer and accepting Christ as my savior - there must be more that I need to do.”

“The truth of the power of the cross and the grace that God has bestowed on us, however, is that it is an all consuming thing; it has not only granted us forgiveness for our sins - it has wiped them clean.”

The man chuckles slightly and smiles as he continues.

“I think God knew that we might struggle with this concept and so in his wisdom he gave us a concrete example of exactly how all-consuming his grace is. In a moment I am going to read from Luke’s Gospel, however, first, I want us all to understand exactly what was happening in the lead up to this so that we can fully grasp the impact of Christ actions.”

The man pauses for a moment as he glances over the crowd.

“Do me a favor and close your eyes for a moment and let me paint a picture for you of what was happening. This scripture takes place at the end of Christ life. Sometimes I think that we sanitize the events surrounding Christ death, but I think it is important for us to fully understand what our savior went through for us.”

“On this day Christ had just been arrested for crimes he did not commit. He had been beaten and ridiculed as he was led to a kangaroo court. At that court he was further mocked by the very people he had come to save who then demanded that he not only be convicted but that he be subjected to the most shameful punishment one could undergo - death by crucifixion.”

“He was then flogged with a Roman lash. Now, I think I should also mention here that a Roman flog was not a simple whip. It was a multi-tailed lash and each of the lashes had bits of bone, stones, and metal weaved in so that each time they whipped him it would tear into his flesh ripping off huge sections of skin. The end of the lash would have been weighted and would wrap around his face with each strike breaking teeth and jawbone. History tells us that he was beaten so badly that he was unrecognizable as a man.”

The man’s voice begins to rise with passion as he continues to speak.

“After being lashed a crown of thorns was forced onto his head causing even more

pain and humiliation as those around him mocked the "King of the Jews" and "messiah" taunting him to end the torture if he was in fact the son of God.”

“He was then forced to care the very cross beam of the cross on which he would die over two football fields to place he would give his life.”

“Upon arriving at the site Christ was forced to lay on the ground on top of the cross bar and had 7-inch spikes nailed through his wrist into the beam. Then, in agony, he was forced onto the 7-foot post that made up the rest of the cross and his feet were nailed to

the cross.”

Pausing a moment to catch his breath the Pastor continues more quietly.

“To fully understand the cruelty of what Christ was facing it is important to know that what kills a victim of crucifixion is actually suffocation. See, the weight put on the chest cavity makes it impossible to breathe. In order to take a breath Christ would have to pull himself up slightly and take a painful gasp before his muscles failed and he would have to drop back down, slowly suffocating before his muscles could no longer support him at all and he would die in agony as his lungs could no longer take in any air.”

The minister pauses a moment, glancing around before opening his Bible and continuing.

“So, it is in this moment that we turn to Luke 23 starting at verse 39 which reads.”

“Luk 23:39-42 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not

the Christ? Save yourself and us!” (40) But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? (41) And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” (42) And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

“I want to pause there for a moment to ask - how would you respond in this moment if you were Christ. You have been beaten, whipped, ridiculed, and are literally suffocating on a cross and this man – who admits he is a criminal and deserving of the punishment he is receiving - ask you to remember him well.”

The man pauses and smirks lightly to himself.

“If I am honest my response would not be good. In my best moments I think my response would be something along the lines of "really, this is when you ask? I've been with you ministering for 3 years and NOW you ask?" and in my lesser moments I

am sure it would be something along the lines of "sure and do me a favor and say hi to Lucifer."”

“Christ, however, was the very embodiment of God and as such God's love and grace and so in this moment he did something that is almost incomprehensible to me. Let’s look at verse 43:”

“Luk 23:43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.””

“This man, who according to the original text was not only a criminal, but violent one - likely a murderer – Christ to simply remember him kindly but Christ actually went a step further. He told him he would see him in paradise - he would be in heaven with him. That is the grace of God. The grace that tells a man who knows that he deserves the death on the cross and the punishment that awaits him after death. Who knows that the flames of hell are close and has accepted that he is deserving of them. This grace opened a pathway for him to come home to the Father even in the last hours of his

life as Christ gave his life for him.”

The Pastor pauses for a long moment – as you are thinking he may not go on he continues in a somber voice.

“Now, I have good news and bad for you.”

“The bad news is that every single one of us is represented by those prisoners who hung on the cross next to Christ. We have all sinned and no matter how big or small you think your sin may be the Bible teaches us that we have all fallen short of the glory of God”

“We are all justly condemned and are on a path to eternal punishment for our sins.”

“The good news is, however, that we have a choice which prisoner we want to be. We can choose to be like the first prisoner who mocked and ridiculed Christ. Now you may say - well, I'm not that bad, I'm not mocking him – I’m just not ready to live a life dedicated to him. But if you know what he went through for our sins and you turn your back on him are you not mocking him in the same way?”

“Or, you can choose to be like the second criminal. The one who turned to Christ and acknowledged him as his savior. The Bible tells us in Romans 10:9-10:”

“Rom 10:9-10 . . . [I]f you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

“If you are hearing this and you feel some trepidation because something has been stirring in your heart and you know that you are not right with God, but you want to be I want to help. I will be around for a while and happy to answer any questions or pray with anyone that wants it. God bless you all and happy Easter.”

With that the Pastor stepped off of the soap box and leaned back against the wall waiting to answer any questions.

……

(OOC: Ok, so I know that this is far from the typical stuff we see on the streets or what I would typically right. I felt, however, that given the season and the importance it has to my faith that I should put this out there. The story above may be given by a created pastor to a bunch of made up mobsters, but the message is one that is true and if it resonates with you in any way I would truly be honored to help you. [I do feel I should be clear I am not an ordained pastor though I am currently attending seminary to become one and I do currently minister to inmates within the jail system in my county].

 I am not here to judge anyone or to call anyone out – that said, if anyone does have any actual questions, I am happy to answer them as best as I can; you can ask them here in character or feel free to mail me. Have a wonderful Easter everyone!)

Roxanne sat in the congregation in quiet contemplation despite the noticeably vocal religious fervour around her. She had never been particularly religious, something she was thankful for because she did not believe that someone, who led the life she did and made the choices she did, would be able to morally justify her flagrant denial of the church's ethical tenants to her own intelligent subconsciousness. She did not believe she was capable of deluding her psyche with self-righteous hypocrisy while she continued along the path she had chosen. A wolf who hid his fangs and pretended to be a sheep would still hunger for meat.

As she sat in a rear pew, listening to the words, dressed in the black of mourning, she wondered if her peers disagreed with her. Did they lament their choices as they lay waiting for death's embrace, clutching their bleeding hearts in a desperate struggle to beg the Lord's forgiveness? Did their killers justify their action as holy or just, did they believe they had risen up against their oppressors or that they had fought back against invaders and therefore God was on their side?

Roxanne shut her eyes and sighed. Though she was new to this country, she had lost friends all across the nation on this day. To the best of her knowledge, as she sat in this church awaiting the funeral processions that were to begin after the conclusion of the sermon, people were still dying in their homes and in foreign territory. Much like the Irish a decade and a half prior, the Americans had turned the streets red with blood on the Eve of Easter, that most solemn and holy of days.

Smiling at the cruel irony of fate, she stared longingly at the preacher and his flock. She ached for the simplicity and the solace of faith. But at the same time, she was grateful that she was incapable of deluding herself into forgiving her own blasphemous way of life by an act or two of contrition. 

Standing up abruptly, she nudged her way out, passing by several irritated worshippers as she exited. Once outside, she leaned against a pillar and lit a cigarette. The familiar burn of the smoke at the back of her throat offered some mild comfort to her troubled mind before cascading gently out her nose and drifting away with the wind, disappearing into nothingness much like the redemption she or those like her may have hoped to achieve before the events of The Easter War.