Stations of the Cross (13)

Jesus dies on the cross (Luke 23:44-46)

Luke 23:44–46 (NIV84)

44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

As Jesus slowly sagged down

with more weight on the nails in the wrists,

excruciating, fiery pain shot along the fingers

and up the arms to explode in the brain.

As He pushed Himself upwards

to avoid this stretching torment,

He placed His full weight on the nail through His feet.

Again there was searing agony

as the nail tore through the nerves.

As the arms fatigued,

great waves of cramps swept through the muscles,

knotting them in deep relentless, throbbing pain.

In the words of the psalm foretelling the death of Messiah,

He cried: ‘My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’

Father God, You waited through the long hours of agony,

when He was robbed even of the sense of Your love,

Your presence,

when the sin and disease and hatred and darkness

overwhelmed Him so greatly.

Lord, He was wounded for my transgressions.

Lord, He was wounded for my transgressions.

Father, what love is this of His?

What love is this of Yours that His dying love reflects?

Your forgiveness for me,

as we gaze upon His sacrificial death,

 is as  truly an undeserved gift as the pardon,

It is mine if I will only receive:

Lord, He was wounded for my transgressions.

Lord, He was wounded for my transgressions.

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