“Death”
SCRIPTURE
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun was darkened and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. – Luke 23:44-46
DEVOTIONAL
Writer and Holocaust survivor, Elie Weisel, remembers an execution in the camp where two men and a young boy accused of sabotage were sentenced by the Nazis to death by hanging.
To hang a child in front of thousands of onlookers was not a small matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was pale, almost calm, but he was biting his lips as he stood in the shadow of the gallows. This time, the Lagerkapo refused to act as executioner. Three SS took his place. The three condemned prisoners together stepped onto the chairs. In unison, the nooses were placed around their necks. “Long live liberty!” shouted the two men. But the boy was silent. “Where is merciful God, where is He?” someone behind me was asking.
At the signal, the three chairs were tipped over. Total silence in the camp. On the horizon, the sun was setting. “Caps off!” screamed the Lagerälteste. His voice quivered. As for the rest of us, we were weeping. “Cover your heads!”
Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out, swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing …
And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes. And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: “For God’s sake, where is God?” And from within me, I heard a voice answer: “Where He is? This is where—hanging here from this gallows…”
That night, the soup tasted of corpses.1
PRAYER
Lord, do not cover our eyes. Do not stop our ears. Do not soften the reality of our shared humanity. It is time. Amen.
1 Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. (New York: Penguin Classics), 2004.
The daily devotionals for the season of Lent are written by Rev. Dr. Kirk Hall, Associate Pastor of Formation at First Presbyterian Church from 2010-2013. He is currently a founding partner at The Metis Project, LLC. and lives with his wife and two girls in Salisbury, Connecticut.