And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last.
Midweek Thoughts
Today, while I was listening to some instrumental hymns while I worked, the tune to “Were You There” came on. It’s an old hymn all about Jesus’ crucifixion. As I thought about the words to the song some thoughts came to me. The song asks a question, but do we ever really think about the answer? Take a minute to really think about the answer.
Were you there? You might say “of course not! That happened a long time ago.” and you are right, in part. None of us living today were physically there, we were not alive then. But our ancestors were. What if we had been there? Would we have been one of those yelling, spitting, cursing Him as He stumbled past bruised and bleeding? Would we have been one of the ones pushing the crown of thorn on His head? Would we have been the person who drove the nails into His wrists? Or would we have been one of the ones sobbing, helpless to stop what was happening.
Even though none of us were physically alive at that time I know we were each there. He knew us before we were born. He took that walk and all that pain for us. He took on the weight of each one of our sins as well as the sins of those who were there. We may not have been there right at that moment, but He knew us. He died for our sins, just like He died for all those present when He breathed His last breath.
Imagine the weight on His shoulders. That is a tremendous amount of weight He bore. The weight of every sin, every sin, before, during, and long after. Every single one. All to save us, His lost sheep.
We were all there. When we listen to the words of the song we should tremble. Praise Him for the price He paid.