Monday, April 29, 2019


The Passion of Christ


Jesus was repeatedly beaten in the head while blindfolded

A spiky crown of thorns shoved down his head

Brutally lashed repeatedly

Having had huge iron nails spiked through both of his wrists and feet

Having been nailed to the cross

Having to heave and push up against the cross in order to breath

Having succumbed to asphyxiation and died


Spat at

Jeered at

Laughed at

Irreverently mocked at


Imagine the pain


Imagine being scourged with leather straps

embedded with sharp metal and broken glass fragments

with small metal balls sewn into the end of each throng


Slash after slash

Whip after each whip

Skin and flesh flailing off

Exposure of flesh and bones

Scourging only stops when you are near death

Imagine having punches thrown at your face while blindfolded

Imagine being beat in the head by fists and wooden staff

over and over

in mockery


Imagine having a crown made of thorns shoved down your head

between your scalp and your skull


Imaging being interrogated and falsely accused

Imagine carrying a cross beam of 100 pounds weight

After having suffered much blood loss

from the scourging of your back and head


Down the road where you always walked

Down the road where you were hailed

Hosanna in the highest

Just one week before


Imagine having lost so much blood

And was too weak to carry the cross

A stranger from the crowd had to carry the cross for you

As you made your way to your place of death

Your place of crucifixion

At the Place of the Skull


Imagine having spiky nails of 6 to 8 inches long

Driven into your wrists

Imagine the sound and the searing pain

As each of these long nails are driven into

Your left wrist

Your right wrist

Your stacked feet

Against the wooden cross


With your gaping back wounds

Scraping against the wooden

Splintery

Cross


Imagine the initial shock of pain coursing through your body

With your wrists and feet nailed to the cross

The weight of your body hanging by the three nails

As you are being heaved up

As the cross is being hoisted to the upright position

And stuck into the ground underneath


Imagine not being able to breathe

As your arms and chest are stretched across the cross beam

That you have to push up and against the cross

With the iron nail spiked through your feet

Tearing at your flesh with each heaving breath you take


Imagine your arms coming out of your sockets

Dislocating your shoulder joints

As you push up against your nailed feet

To

Take

in

A

Breath



To

Take

in

Each

Breath


Imagine the continual loss of blood

From your

Thorn crowned head

Exposed bloody back

Nails pierced wrists

Nail pierced feet


Even as you push up for each breath


Imagine the searing pain

The scraping of the exposed wounds

From the scourging of your back

Against the rough splintered cross


As you pushed up against your feet

To take the next breath

And the next breath

And the next breath


Until you breathed your

Last

Breath



Jesus knew all this while praying

At the Garden of Gethsemane


That’s why He prayed

If at all possible

Please remove this cup from me


He prayed the same prayer three times

And each time

He submitted to the Father’s Will


Not my will but Yours be done

Jesus repeated



Jesus saw the joy set before him while on the cross


Joy


While on the cross

Jesus saw joy


The joy of each of us

Having our sins washed

Us being redeemed

Us being cleansed

By the

One and only

Sacrificial Lamb

Who takes away the sins of the world


The only

Lamb of God


Whose blood

Takes away

Does away with

All

of our sins


Sins which we cannot cleanse

We cannot atone for

By our own efforts


No matter how much good we do

How well we try to behave


For nothing

Absolutely nothing

Can earn us our salvation


But

The

Blood

of

The

Sinless

Lamb


The CHRIST


We were the joy Christ saw while on the cross

The joy of us becoming his sisters and brothers

Co-heirs of Christ


Cleansed

Holy

Pure

Spotless

Just like Him


So that we might join him in glory

For all eternity


The cross is a curse to the world

The cross symbolizes shame and humiliation to the world


But not to Jesus

And not to us


For the cross is where the Lover of our Soul

Joyfully

Saw us

Beyond the cross


The accomplishment that only he can achieve


And he

Willingly

Stepped into this world as a young babe


As he

Willingly

Stepped up to the cross as a savior


So that he might

Gain

Us


“…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2b).



2 comments:

  1. Thank you, Elissa. This is powerful. How He loves us. Overwhelmed and thankful beyond all words... Renee

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, praise God for His infinite love that He would give us His very own and only Son to die for us in order to gain all of us!

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