Jesus, Thank You

Jesus, Thank You

The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend

The agonies of Calvary

You the perfect Holy One, crushed Your Son

Who drank the bitter cup reserved for me

In church we sang, Jesus, Thank You, a song we've sung many times, but today it hit me in a new way and brought tears to my eyes.  With less than two weeks to ankle replacement revision surgery, I am no longer taking anti-inflammatory medication.  My pain and discomfort are high.  It's easy to look inward, and not upward (to the Lord), and outward (to others) when you're suffering.  The second sentence, "the agonies of Calvary,” reminded me of the incredible suffering Jesus endured before He was nailed to the cross, and when He was on the cross for your and my sins.  His pain was incomparable to the pain and suffering you and I will ever face.  

I started to think about “agony", its meaning, and where we find it in God's Word?  Interesting, it's only found once. Luke 22:44, "And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (ESV).  We see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane  in agony pleading, wrestling, and ultimately submitting to his father’s will. “Agony”  defined here is an intense inward struggle of the soul.  Jesus, holy and without sin, would be made sin for us. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (1 Corinthians 5:21). 

This intense agonizing struggle, Jesus went through while he prayed in the garden to his father, resulted in Jesus sweating “great drops of blood” — for you, for me — even before being nailed to the cross.  In Gethsemane Jesus submitted to his father’s will. Jesus said, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).  Jesus willingly submitted to God’s wrath, judgment, and condemnation that we rightly deserve as punishment for our sins. 

Even more amazing, Jesus joyfully went to the cross. He knew that on the other side of dying a horrific death — reserved for the worst criminals of his day — and separation from his father, he would spend eternal life with him.  The writer of Hebrews reminds us and encourages us to have Jesus’ attitude in fighting sin, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:2-4).

Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross, demonstrating your immeasurable love so that those who turn from their sins, confess them, and believe in you for eternal life will be saved.