As if we were there.

I am still troubled by it. Every time I reread the account of Christ's passion, I continue to be troubled by it. After twenty years of living in Christ, of constant and regular Bible reading, I am still unable to read the story of Jesus' crucifixion without being deeply moved by it. It can never become a simple text for an essay, for study, or for preaching, because it upsets me again and again. What could be more natural, given the profound humiliation and affliction that Jesus experienced so that you and I could have life and be reconciled to God?

And this morning it prompted me to meditate again on the value of our salvation; for given the price paid to obtain it, how can we not value our relationship and communion with God above all else, how can we not consider that salvation is of greater value than anything else? We understand then that The Apostle Paul, praying for those who had benefited from this great salvation, gathered in the church of Colosse, asked that they might live in a manner worthy of the Lord, that they might be pleasing to Him and that they might desire to please Him in all things by growing in the knowledge of God. The self-denial that Christ demonstrated calls for gratitude; such love, such self-giving, deserves, at the very least, the best that we are and that we have.

For there is nothing more wonderful than to have been redeemed. To be forgiven and to enjoy a right relationship with God is the supreme blessing of the soul. 'Now we have peace with God' is the answer to the quest of human existence, and the cross of Jesus provided the solution to the human condition. We human beings assiduously seek answers, in the process adhering to principles, subscribing to rules, feeding on philosophies and bowing down to many gods, when in reality it is all so simple; the cross, the tomb, the resurrection of Christ provide access to what humanity yearns for, peace with God.

And even though the shame of the cross ended in the glorification of Christ and our redemption, that doesn't lessen the pain one can feel when reading this story. I found a kindred spirit, a kindred spirit in the writer of that splendid hymn that has survived for generations, 'Were you there?' He wrote its words

• “Were you there when they crucified my Lord (2ce), Oh oh oh oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble…
• Were you there when they nailed him to the cross…
• Were you there when they pierced him in the side…..
• Were you there when they laid him in the tomb…..Sometimes it causes me to tremble….”

(Translation :

• " Were you there when they crucified my Lord (2), Oh oh oh oh, Sometimes it makes me tremble, tremble, tremble.
• Were you there when they nailed him to the cross…; Were you there when they pierced his side…
• Were you there when they placed him in the tomb….Sometimes it makes me tremble, tremble, tremble…”)

May it always make us tremble, as if we were there!

Shalom!