A great article as we get closer to Easter

This is an article that Sarah's mom, Peggy, wrote for her local paper. Great article.

A View From The Cross-Road

by: Peggy Barnell

The Shadow of the Cross


I have heard medical professionals explain the physical pain that a person would experience during death by crucifixion. Blow-by-blow account given as to how the body's systems would gradually fail and eventually bring death. When I consider that level of suffering, I can't help but reflect on the significance of Easter and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.

Thanks to my early years in Sunday School, I was always aware of the history of Easter. But it wasn't until much later in my adult life that I began to have some comprehension of what that event encompassed. The non-descript awareness that Jesus died on a cross for the sins of mankind gave way to a gradual awakening that it was much more personal than that. I began to recognize that Jesus gave His life not only for murderers and rapists and thieves, He gave His life for my sin.
When that revelation began to dawn in my head and heart, as the prophet Isaiah described, I felt as though

"I was undone" - overwhelmed to think that every selfish act, every ugly, spite-filled, lustful, greedy thought or deed of my own had sent Christ to the cross just as surely as the sins of all those "evil people" of the world.

Though I know it's a done deal, when I contemplate Jesus' death, there is some innate sense of justice within me that wants to stop Him from enduring the suffering - wants Him not to take on my sin as His own. In those deeply reflective moments I struggle with the urge to cry out and plead: Please, don't - don't do that for me! It's just so... unfair... I know how unworthy I am of that kind of sacrifice, that kind of love.

A friend shared his like-minded, sympathetic fantasy. He imagines that he is there at the cross - he removes the nails from the hands and feet of Jesus and by doing so, eases His pain and brings Him comfort.
As sweet and comforting as that scenario is to consider, it completely defeats the purpose of the sacrifice. The fact that Jesus willingly took our deserved sins upon His undeserving self is the intrinsic point of the matter.

Last Sunday one of the worship team members at my church stood and played his guitar just a bit downstage from the cross that is erected on the platform. Though I feel sure it was unintentional on his part, from my viewpoint in the crowd of worshipers, it seemed as though he was standing in the shadow of the cross. Occasionally he would extend his arms out to his side, face turned heavenward as he sang praise with abandon to God. As I watched him sing and worship with the cross behind him, it occurred to me that it's exactly what the cross does for those who recognize it's significance. It casts a loving shadow over us. It re-centers our lives - the way we think and process and love and view the world around us.

And to live in such a manner, dear friends, is exactly what Jesus asks of us in return.

John 15: 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has one one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.