Why The Cross (And this is why you don’t need that Biyernes Santo face each Holy Week)
“Why the cross?
Because sinners have no other hope.
Why the cross?
Because it is the unassailable proof that we can be forgiven.
Let’s gaze on it. As we draw close, don’t assume that you already know or understand what happened there. Come to the Cross as if for the first time.
In the book WHEN GOD WEEPS, Steven Estes and Joni Eareckson Tada give the following account of Christ’s death. As you read, refuse to let the scene be familiar. Let its reality shock you and break your heart.
The face that Moses had begged to see— was forbidden to see— was slapped bloddy (Exodus 33:19-20). The thorns that God had sent to curse he earth’s rebellion now twisted around his own brow…
‘On your back with you!’ One raises a mallet to sink in the spike. But the soldier’s heart must continue pumping as he readies the prisoner’s wrist. Someone must sustain the soldier’s life minute by minute, or no man has this power on his own. Who supplies breath to his lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only by the Son do “all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). The victim wills that the soldier live on - he grants the warriors continued existence. The man swings.
As the man swings, the Son recalls how he and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human forearm - the sensations it would be capable of. The design proves flawless - the nerves perform exquisitely. ‘Up you go!’ They lift the cross. God is on display in his underwear and can scarcely breathe.
But these are a mere warm-up to his other and growing dread. He begins to feel a foreign sensation. Somewhere during this day an unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around his nose, but his heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon his spotless being - the living excrement from our souls. The apple of his Father’s eye turns brown with rot.
His Father! He must face his Father like this!
From heaven the Father now rouses himself like a lion disturbed, shakes his mane, and roars against the shriveling remnant of a man hanging on a cross. Never has the Son seen the Father look at him so, never felt even the least of his hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and darkens the visible sky. The Son does not recognize these eyes.
‘Son of Man! Why have you behaved so? You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped -murdered, envied, hated, lied.
You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten -fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled and blasphemed.
Oh, the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned! Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name? Have you ever held your razor tongue?
What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk- you, who molest young boys, peddle killer drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your parents.
Who gave you the boldness to rig elections, foment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons? Does the list never end!
Splitting families, raping virgins, acting smugly, playing the pimp - buying politicians, practicing exhortation, filming pornography, accepting bribes. You have burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics, founded false religions traded in slaves —relishing each morsel and bragging about it all. I hate, loathe these things in you! Disgust for everything about you consumes me! Can you not feel my wrath?’
Of course the Son is innocent. He is blamelesness itself. The Father knows this But the divine pair have an agreement, and the unthinkable must now take place. Jesus will be treated as of personally responsible for every sin ever committed.
The Father watches as his heart’s treasure, the mirror image of himself, sinks drowning into raw, liquid sin. Jehovah’s stored rage against humankind from every century explodes in a single direction.
‘Father! Father! Why have you forsaken me?!’
But heaven stops its ears. The son stares up at the One who cannot, who will not, reach down or reply.
The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it.
The Spirit enabled him. The father rejected the Son whom he loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished.
Don’t move too quickly from this scene. Keep gazing.
The Rescue accomplished here was for YOU.
Did you see your own offenses on the list of sins that necessitated the Cross? Name your DARKEST SIN. Now reflect on the fact that Christ bore the punishment for that sin. He took the punishment you deserved. He died for you - and me. He was condemned and cursed so that you could go free —He was forsaken by God so that you and me would never be forsaken.”
-Joshua Harris in his book Boy Meets Girl quoted Joni Eareckson Tada’s book When God Weeps.
A fruitful holy week, everyone :) 
