"I'll cherish the old rugged cross"

Many people don’t know what to do with this day we call Good Friday.  Can you blame them?  After all, when you stop and think about it, the cross is, as the hymn Old Rugged Cross puts it, “An emblem of suffering and shame.”  Crucifixion was a barbaric, brutal, horrendous means of death.  Why then does the just-cited hymn say, “I’ll cherish the old rugged cross”?  The answer is you have to look deeper.  It’s not about the method of death that we Christians celebrate; it is the Man who died on that cross.  Jesus Christ gave His life, as He put it, to give His life “as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

I recently came across a helpful booklet from Discovery Series entitled Why Did Christ Have to Die?  At one point, the author writes, “This principle is illustrated by a story from American history.  In a tribe of Indians, someone was stealing chickens.  The chief declared that, if caught, the offender would receive 10 lashes.  When the stealing continued, he raised it to 20 lashes.  Still the chickens methodically disappeared.  In anger the chief raised the sentence to 100 lashes – a sure sentence of death.

The thief was finally caught.  But the chief faced a terrible dilemma.  The thief was his own mother!  When the day of penalty came, the whole tribe gathered.  Would the chief’s love override his justice?  The crowd gasped when he ordered his mother to be tied to the whipping post.  The chief removed his shirt, revealing his powerful stature, and took the whip in hand.  But instead of raising it to strike the first blow, he handed it to a strong, young brave at his side.  Slowly the chief walked over to his mother and wrapped his massive arms around her in an engulfing embrace.  Then he ordered the brave to give him the 100 lashes.”

What is Good Friday about?  It’s about how sin has an insurmountable price tag that I can’t pay.  But Jesus Christ, the only sinless One, paid the price of my sin – past, present and future – by laying down His life.  The hymn The Old Rugged Cross says, “And I love that old cross, where the Dearest and Best, for a world of lost sinners was slain.  So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross.”

The author of that same booklet continues, “The result is that the person who trusts in Jesus Christ is changed in his relationship to God.  He is changed in his relationship to his own sin.  And his future is changed, both for this life and the life to come.”  It takes my breath away.  It brings tears to my eyes.  Don Moen, in his song Hallelujah to the Lamb, captures my heart’s cry: “There are no words good enough to thank You; there are no words to express my praise, but I will lift up my voice and sing from my heart, with all of my strength.”

Kevin