The path is uneven and the crowd is jeering. The cross is so heavy, His back bloodied, beaten and bruised and yet He walks.
Stumbling under the weight of the world’s sin one labored step at a time towards my freedom and yours He walks.
What did this man do to warrant the punishment of such a cruel, inhumane death?
He said “Yes.”
“Yes I will go. I will heal their sicknesses, revive their loved ones, calm storms and take a cross meant for them upon my shoulders and I will walk.”
I often wonder as He walked the path to His death, did He see the familiar faces of all those who benefitted from His presence on this unworthy earth?
Did He lock eyes with the adulterous woman He saved from certain death, the numerous lepers He healed or the woman at the well whose soul He restored?
Had they turned on Him or did they weep like His mother Mary as she watched her firstborn child walk to His death unable to kiss away His fate like she did His pain when He was but a boy running free in the backyard?
I will leave this life never fully grasping the magnitude of the gift of the cross or God’s love for His children. To sacrifice one child to save another goes beyond what my small mind can comprehend.
Easter always fills me with hope knowing His resurrection assures me of eternity with Him.
And the cross – well I can only say my eyes fill with tears when I think of the sacrificial gift placed in my hands with each pounding of the hammer into His wrists, each breath He struggled to inhale as His body weight rests on His feet with searing agony and throbbing pain shooting through every muscle, nerve and tendon.
And as His heartbeat became more faint with death quickly approaching He struggled to make His final act on this earth one of forgiveness – “Forgive them Father” (Luke 23:34)
And all of this He endured for you and me.
Today I am reminded of that old gospel hymn The Old Rugged Cross
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross. The emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross where the dearest and best. For a world of lost sinners was slain
On this Easter weekend let us never forget this amazing gift of grace. He paid a price He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay.
Sandra Hubbard
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