The Judge

I am standing in a courtroom, front and center. To my right and slightly behind is a table. Just out of my peripheral vision, my attorney, I know, is standing behind it. I can feel several pairs of eyes boring into the back of me from the onlookers in the pews behind me, some are those whose cases will come after mine, some are merely here for the show. Directly in front of me, tall and foreboding, sits the judge’s bench, the “Mercy seat”.  The Judge himself is leaning over the edge to look down on me. A recorder to my left is reading off a long list of my sins. It seems to echo on forever. His voice is muffled and indistinct. My palms are sweating, heart is racing. I can’t make eye contact with anyone. I steal a glance up at the Judge. His gaze points off in the distance, listening intently to my crimes, brow furrowed, there is an anger on his face. I turn away quickly. Finally, the recorder stops speaking. There is a silence of anticipation hovering thickly in the air. The voice of the jury reverberates through the hall. The only word distinguishable to my pounding ears is “guilty”. My breath catches in my chest. I know the sentence is isolation… execution… death. I look up into the face of the Judge. Where the anger sat before, there is a sadness as He looks directly into my eyes. An impregnable pause fills the room. A voice from behind speaks, breaking determinedly into the silence, “Father, do you want me to take this?” The Judge breaks eye contact, looking past me. His voice is calm and steady as he replies, “Yes.” I turn to my right, following his gaze to see my Savior.  A young man, in his 30s, tall, rugged, with shaggy brown hair that covers his head and face, meets my stare. His eyes seem to penetrate directly into my soul, the overwhelming emotion in them, love. He smiles as he passes me to the front of the courtroom. He looks on his Father, sitting in the Judge’s seat; a knowing look of sadness, love, and justice passes between them. As the guards take him through the doors that lead to the judgment sentence that once had my name on it, Jesus looks back on me and winks, as if to say “I’ll be back”. The doors close behind my Savior. I am rooted to the spot where I stand. I am overwhelmed. I am in shock. My mind is grasping for understanding on what just transpired. A voice breaks into the chaos of my thoughts. I look up. The Judge is smiling at me. There is compassion and love in his eyes. There is a joy in His voice as he calls me up to the witness stand beside him.  I am no longer stuck in my place of condemnation. I have been positioned next to the Judge, entrusted in a place of help, of importance in the cases to come. I have a purpose, accepted in the courtroom.