You could have ridden a stallion
Up to the city gates
Instead you chose a donkey
As palm leaves strew your way
You could have left the temple
With its money making schemes
Instead you turned the tables
And denounced the den of thieves
You could have just had supper
And not blessed the bread and wine
And praying in the garden said
not now, some other time
You could have not let Judas
Betray you with a kiss
You could have just let Peter
Take his sword up to resist
You could have ousted Herod
And claimed an earthly throne
You could have taken Pilate on
You could have challenged Rome
You could have shown them Lazarus
Whom you had raised from dead
You could have let the punishment
Fall on another head
You could have had a crown of gold
And not a crown of thorns
Avoided the humiliation
Of the mocking crowds and scorn
And yet you chose to suffer
And to face the cross and pain
To descend to death to beat it
Then to rise to life again
