‘Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one... Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin or your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable...'CS Lewis, The Four Loves

Today we are going to visit a crime scene.  At that crime scene we will find a victim.  Someone who has been robbed or beaten or lied to or abused.  Someone who's innocence was taken, who's future was changed in a heartbeat, who's life was left in pieces.  Someone who trusted and who's trust was violated.  Someone who has lived in the shadow of that crime to this day. That someone may be you. That someone is also me.

At the crime scene we will find violence, hatred, bitterness, anger and despair.  The colours will be black and red and grey.  There will be mourning and heartbreak. There will be a policeman who looks the other way, a judge who does nothing, there will be prison bars and a death sentence.  No life, no hope, no future.

Lost innocence leads to cynicism and despair, injustice leads to anger and hatred, broken trust leads to bitterness and a resolution that grows ever stronger to never allow anyone close again. A prison cell. A castle without doors. A maze with no centre. A house in ruins.

Now we are at another crime scene. A man is being whipped and cursed.  He is accused yet He says nothing.  He is alone yet His friends stand and watch.  He is made to carry a heavy wooden cross on His back that has been ripped to shreds. He is made to walk through crowds of people that claimed to love Him but now call for His blood.  His blood that falls along the path that He walks to his death. He is nailed to a cross as people jeer at Him and spit His name out of their mouths like bullets. A criminal's punishment for the One who has never committed a crime. As He struggles for breath and with eyes almost swollen shut with pain and blood, He looks at the crowd and says; 'Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing'.

The scene of the crime

How did you hear?
When did you know?
How could it be that they treated you so?
You waited so long,
Love never died,
Forgave the heartbreak you saw in their eyes.

Can you ever learn to love again,
After all this time?
Can you pick up the pieces of your broken heart,
And return,
To the scene of the crime.

How does it feel,
Deep down inside,
Do you keep track of the tears that you've cried?
Day after day,
Manage the pain,
Never so sure of a promise again.

Can you ever learn to love again,
After all this time?
Can you pick up the pieces of your broken heart,
And return,
To the scene of the crime.

What if I told you there was One,
Who knows what it's like to be afraid?
Who poured out His love,
Without promise of return,
And held onto life beyond the grave.

Jesus can mend the broken pieces,
The sorrow, the anger and the shame,
That's why He died,
At the scene of your crime,
So that you could learn to love again,

Learn to love again....

Claire Vorster, February 2003

He was robbed so that you could be restored, He was beaten so that you could be healed, He brings truth where there were only lies, He was abused so that you could be set free.  You have been broken yet He can make something beautiful from your pieces. Take Him to the scene of your crime, let His feet walk over it and bring peace and healing.