Skip to main content

The Cross

The head once crowned with glory, crowned with thorns instead. A crown of humiliation, shame and pain. The thorns lacerating into his tender flesh and drawing blood.

It is dark – pitch black. A constant stream of blood dripping down from the cross onto the ground below. The gasps of slow suffocation meet the resistance of nail pierced hands and feet.

A man, lashed and beaten beyond recognition.

I turn my face away. It’s too awful to behold. I don’t want to look at it. I don’t want to face the reality of his suffering.

A thought crosses my mind. I haven’t done anything that bad. I’ve never murdered, I’ve never robbed a bank. I consider myself to be a nice person.

The king of glory, Jesus, hangs dying in unrecognisable pain. And I don’t want to admit, or face the reality, that it’s my sin that put him there. I don’t even want to dwell on the brutality of the suffering he endured.

That was the cost of my sin. That was the cost of my shame. That was the depth of my depravity. That was the level of my brokenness. That was the extent of my separation from God.

Jesus’ very life was the price paid for my freedom. For my reconciliation. For my healing. For my chance to live again. To live for eternity.


Jesus looks into my eyes. He tells me – this was for you. His eyes of honesty, compassion and gentleness. There is no reproach. There is only love. A free gift of which I’m still grasping to understand the immeasurable cost.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Beautiful Betrayal

Rejection. It is something that we’ve all experienced, whether waiting in queue for those concert tickets that just sold out, a refused job application or perhaps that familiar unrequited crush.   Coming in different forms of proximity to our very nature and personality and in varying levels of intensity, it goes without saying that whatever the circumstances, it is always a bitter pill to swallow. The most painful rejection of all, is that rejection which we perceive as unjustified. That which fails to recognise our true skills, personality or ability to love.   I was inspired to write about this topic as I study the book of the prophet Hosea. More accurately, I was blown away as I considered the rejection that the very God who created the universe took, so that we could be in a loving relationship with him.  The Bible records that God instructed the prophet Hosea to marry a “ an adulterous wife ” (NIV). This wife symbolised the Israelites, who had turned away fr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Just look below the surface

  It is perhaps a difficult thesis to make that the behavioural norms of tourists in Spain should somehow comply with the rules of rationality. A common pattern that can be observed in that geographical location are those individuals who, heated by the powerful sun, throw themselves into the refreshing salt filled body of liquid. Yes, that part makes sense. However, many simply choose to use the sea as a free cooling devise. Don’t they realise that simply immersing their faces inches deeper below the surface, will reveal an incredible world teeming with life and beauty, freely available to those who are simply bothered to take a look? Many emerge from this body of water none the wiser to the fascinating other world displayed just metres below them.     Like the yellow pinstripe fish floating in groups, or maybe the tiny crabs peeking from the perfect conch shells, or the funny brown and white fish with the pregnant bellies. And maybe if you pay close attention, you might ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Perspective

One day I am going to stand before God, and He is going to ask me what I did with the talents He gave me. I will respond, “well, I wasn’t sure if the inspiration I had was really from you. So I started talking to a lot of different people. I got their opinions and followed their advice to reformulate my work. Then I started trying to guess what other people would think, by attempting to place myself into the minds of people I never speak to, and know nothing about. Then I tried re-doing things according to my own understanding because I wasn’t happy with what I originally had.” Then God will say, why didn’t you trust me? I will respond, “because I was afraid.” Then, I will look up. I will see the God whose voice caused the universe to burst forth and the earth to be born. The God whose creative power designed every single kind of animal, every living plant, every towering mountain and roaring ocean. The creative power that designed the human mind and intellect and nam...
Post a Comment
Read more