During this period of Lent and approaching Good Friday, I was challenged by the opening words of the well-known hymn, “When I survey the wondrous cross”. One definition of the word “survey” is “to look closely at or examine (someone or something),” and this reminded me of a verse from the New Testament.
Hebrews 12 verse 3 starts with the phrase, “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” A preacher once shared that the word “consider” means “to get down to thinking about”.
The challenge for me is that the Easter story is so familiar that I may not fully appreciate all that was involved. I recall from the days when Christians were not expected to enter cinemas, that I attended a showing of the film, Ben Hur. In one small scene, you see a man (assumed to be Jesus) carrying his cross. But what shocked me was that having nailed the person to the cross it was lifted and dropped into the hole in the ground – not gently lowered!
Bible verses and many hymns try to capture something of the crucifixion experience, though beautifully summed up with the words, “What he endured no tongue can tell, to save my soul from death and hell”.
I find it difficult to appreciate the physical suffering our Saviour endured; unable to appreciate the mental suffering as evidenced in the Garden of Gethsemane, and certainly find it impossible to appreciate what it must have been like to bear the punishment for the sins of the world.
PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, help me to understand it, help me to take it in, what it meant to Thee, the Holy One, to bear away by sin. AMEN