Good Friday Spoken Word

Why is it that humans are always so focused on saving themselves?
Someone please tell me how it can be
That the crowds proclaimed Jesus King on Sunday but by Friday were entirely absentee.
Even Jesus closest friends scattered and ran
I’m guessing for Judas that was always the plan
But what about James, Peter and John
At his most vulnerable moment Jesus’ inner circle was gone.

Well, Peter was near, as they led Jesus away
But as we know, Peter denied Jesus 3 times that day.

Why is it that humans are always so focused on saving themselves?

That’s all Peter cared about as he denied being an intermediary
With the man accused of blasphemy
Peter could not be seen as Jesus’ kin
Because Peter needed to save his own skin.
And in the same way Pontius Pilate knew that Jesus was without guilt.
But amidst the public pressure his sense of justice wilts
He knew Jesus had done no wrong
But the cries from the crowd were so strong
That he could have easily had a riot on his hands
So, Pilate just washed his hands
         And saved himself.
And as Pilate washed, the Chief priests and religion elites nodded and smiled
         Because it seemed they had been saved.

Jesus had spent all week
Lobbing harsh critiques
At their way of leading.
And Jesus had been succeeding
At picking away at their control.
At pointing out the corruption in their soul
And so, in an attempt to save themselves
The religious leaders commandeered one of the twelve
And had Jesus convicted and betrayed
So their power and control could be saved
Corruption and conspiracy and cowardice
Led to the death of Jesus
But, Christ’s death actually defeated all of this corruption
On the cross, all of our human brokenness was met with an interruption
The religious elite and Pilate and Peter
Worked so hard to save themselves
And their fictions led to Jesus’ crucifixion
But that was actually just the event where God
Saved everyone
From themselves.