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APRIL 2011
So they took Jesus, and he went out
bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in
Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two
others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.
John 19:16-18 .
Mahatma Ghandi asked some Christian missionaries
who visited him to sing a hymn. They asked Ghandi which hymn he would like
sung. His response was ‘sing the one that expresses all that is deepest
in your faith.’ The missionaries thought for a moment and then they
sang, with all their hearts, these words written by Isaac Watts:
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died.
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.
See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown .
There is
something wondrous about the cross of Christ which stirs our hearts. As we
look back to Calvary, on the one hand we are saddened by the horror of the
scene and Christ’s suffering and on the other hand we are thrilled with
its wonderful meaning of redemption.
The wondrous
cross of Christ demands a response, to trust in Jesus or to reject him,
and we see this first happening while Jesus was being crucified. As the
Lord Jesus hung on the cross, two criminals were crucified on either side
of him. Each of them saw him suffer. Each heard his words. But their
reactions to him were altogether different. One of the criminals railed at
Jesus in unbelief. The other cried out in faith, ‘Lord, remember me
when You come into Your kingdom.’ (Luke 23:42)
And in response to his faith Jesus said to him ‘Today you will be with me
in Paradise.’ (Luke 23:43) This Easter as we look to
the scene on Calvary, to ‘ the wondrous cross on which the Prince of
glory died,’ we are all represented by one of those two men who hung
on either side of Jesus. We either believe in Christ or we reject him. Our
eternal destiny depends on our decision. Jesus said. ‘Whoever believes
in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned
already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.’
(John 3:18)
If you haven’t
trusted Jesus, do it today.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were an offering far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
Rev David Irvine
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