In the shadow of the cross...

I cannot imagine the insurmountable disappointment, grief, sorrow, bitterness and anger that the crowd, huddling at the base of the cross, must have felt. These are the people who had waited and believed that this was the One; the promised savior. Yet, here he hung. Nailed to a tree, blood and water mingling as they flowed down his side.

I can only imagine that his mother, standing near by, was being torn apart inside. I'd like to think that she knew that her son was different; that he was sent to save the world. But, I also imagine that-- seeing her son, whom she carried inside of her for nine months and brought into the world in a stable, whom she held in her arms and rocked to sleep, whom she raised and loved and cherished, flogged and beaten until the his bones were exposed, mocked and despised by those who had once followed him, crucified to a cross, and pierced in the side with a spear--she was crying out, "Lord, did it have to be this way?"

I know the end of the story. I know that His death wasn't the end. Yet, if I was standing there with the crowd, it would certainly seem as if the story had ended in an abrupt and cruel way. I'd like to think that something deep inside of me would have enough faith to still trust and believe everything Jesus said was true, but those things seem like they would be far away. I'm afraid I'd hang my head, and walk away; let down again.

Yet, surely, something did end that day. With the words 'it is finished', He ended the eternal divide between Yahweh and us. With His last breath, He paid the debt for our transgressions. When he died, he split the curtain of separation; the holy of holies could now be entered, through his blood, by us.
With his death, He bridged the chasm that kept us from God. And He did all of it because He loves us. Because He wants to be with us. Because He knew that the penalty for sin is death, and, without the sacrifice being fulfilled, we couldn't be with Him.

He did what it took to get close to us. Even dying a horrific death.

And it makes my heart stand in awe of who He is. In the shadow of the cross, on that day, in the blackest of black, in the darkest night, death surely seemed to reign. Yet, in that moment, life, also, burst forth; life that forever ended death.