When it comes to the Passion of our Lord, we often see images depicting Jesus with a serene face in death, hanging from the cross, or His back bruised with just a few scratches. But while the brutality of the cross may be toned down in many instances so as not to shock the public with too much gore, that very brutality must not be forgotten, for it is exactly that which shows us the cost of our sin to a holy God.
In this illustration which we did for our Names of God calendar, I tried to capture not only the physical suffering of Jesus, but his emotional pain at the scorn of a host of soldiers taking Him for a sport, and the utter callousness of human hearts towards Him who died for us. Yet no picture however well painted can begin to describe His agony in those few hours He spent forsaken by His Father. Therein lay the true price, and Jesus paid it in full as he drank to the dregs the cup of suffering that was meant to be ours.
Shall we tone down the suffering Jesus experienced on the cross? I hope we never do so, lest we forget how much we owe Him and how great a sacrifice He made out of love for us whose sin made the cross necessary.
Without His tears, there is no comfort
Without His death, there is no life
Without His blood, there is no pardon
Without His cross, there is no crown
Without His shame, there is no glory
Without His grief, there is no joy
Without His stripes, there is no healing
Without His cross, there is no crown
Lamb of God, You bring salvation
And with Your grace, our hearts are sealed
Lord, with Your tears of love, You bathed our sorrows
In Your eyes we stand revealed
Without His tears, there is no comfort
Without His death, there is no life
Without His blood, there is no pardon
Without His cross, there is no crown
Without His Cross
By : Joseph M. Martin
