Cross – Judy in the Sky

Read Psalm 22 – Blessed David, did he know when he penned this how prophetic it was? Did he live through an instance that led his heart to cry out these words? He certainly lived through many times of peril. Yet Jesus used these very words during the last moments of his human life, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Psalm 22:1, Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34

Did you know the number markers, 3:16, 8:28, 22:1, etc, were added over a thousand years after Jesus? In his day, one would bring up a passage by uttering the first few words.

I say that to ask you to picture Jesus as you read. This is Jesus, scorned and despised (:6). This is Jesus with his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth (:15). This is Jesus, pierced through his hands and feet (:16)… read about this wrath that we deserve, yet was paid by him who knew no sin.

Sit in wonder as you consider how perfectly this prophetic psalm was fulfilled in our Savior hundreds of years after it was penned. There is so much to marvel at; I will be quiet and trust the Holy Spirit to work on your heart as you read and meditate on Psalm 22.

Read John 19 – You are going to want to look away, but don’t. You are going to want to read this lightly the way one does when the characters seem foreign, read it twice, maybe three times. Read it until you are able to see your own need for a Savior. Read it until you see how far you are from worthy to be in the presence of our Holy God.

Are you a “good person”? Read it again. Pilate tried to be a “good person”. He knew Jesus was innocent so he thought maybe a scourging would satisfy the angry, blood thirsty crowd…. It was his weak and deranged compromise. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, surrendered his life to the cruelest abuses man can conceive. Why were they so cruel – a crown of thorns, slapping Jesus, who swung the whip that tore his flesh? When one person is cruel, it is very bad, yet when a frenzy of cruelty erupts, it is inhumane.

Jesus was innocent. He bore my sins on that cross. He bore your sins on that cross. Feel the magnitude of it. “It is finished.” :30 Jesus paid our atoning sacrifice. It was more than we can afford – our sin deems us unworthy. It was more than we deserve. “Yet while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8