The Meaning of the Cross, Day 8

Welcome to the eighth day of our “40 Days of the Cross” series. Each day we are taking just a few minutes to look at a word which will help us better understand the meaning of the cross.
 

Today’s word is agony. I think maybe there are times we take the cross for granted. We gloss over the suffering of the cross. It’s an image around our necks or at the front of the church. And if we picture Jesus on the cross, we often picture him hanging majestically with a look of serene sorrow. But Jesus was not beautiful on the cross.
 

Isaiah prophesied about the suffering of Jesus on the cross. Look at what the prophet says in Isaiah 52:14, “But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man" (NLT). He was so beaten, so scarred and bruised, that His face hardly looked human anymore.
 

It wasn’t just His physical body that was battered. Jesus’ very spirit was in agony - the Scripture tells us this. The Bible tells us that Jesus went with His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, He walked a little way away and knelt with His face to the ground, asking the Father if there was a way to avoid the agony of the cross, yet pledging to follow the will of the Father, even if it led to the anguish of His crucifixion. An angel came to strengthen Him, yet still His torment remained. Luke 22:44 says, “And being in agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
 

Crucifixion was arguably the most painful method of execution ever developed by man. It’s believed that the nails driven into the end of the forearms and feet severed the nerves that would cause a severe burning sensation in the limbs, except for the hands and feet which would be permanently paralyzed. The victim can only draw deep breaths if they push their weight up on the nails driven into the feet. The legs become weaker and weaker. The shoulders and elbows would dislocate. Eventually the victim would either suffocate or they would suffer a heart attack.
 

Why share the horrible details of Christ’s agony? Because that was part of the cost He paid for our sins. If we are going to meditate on the cross, we need to understand the reality of the cross. It’s no wonder the cross was considered a curse. But we’ll talk more about the curse tomorrow.
 

Jesus was willing to suffer this agony to reestablish a connection between God and man that had been lost since the Garden of Eden. After we close in prayer today, I encourage you to spend a little time in meditation and prayer thinking about the agony Jesus was willing to suffer out of love for us.
 

Father, this is difficult for us to consider. We can’t conceive of what it was like for you to watch your only Son in agony. Thank you for your love for us and thank you for the cross. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Continued tomorrow