The Emblem of Suffering and Shame
I thought for this Holy Week leading up to Good Friday we could look at this beautiful hymn and let the words sink us deeper into the reality of what happened that day. The first verse of the hymn goes like this:
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
The emblem of suffering and shame
And I love that old cross, where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain
The Cross: An Emblem of Suffering and Redemption
“On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross” - much like the disciples who scattered when Jesus was arrested, you and I often keep our distance and look at the cross from afar. I pray that this week, friends, you and I can draw near instead of only observing from afar.
The hymn writer says “an old rugged cross - the emblem of suffering and shame”. The picture or the logo, so to speak, of suffering and shame is the cross. Then he says, “I love that old cross with the dearest and best” - Jesus, the dearest and best man that ever lived - “for a world of lost sinners was slain” to save lost sinners, the whole world over.
What is your emblem in life? What is your sign that sums up what you are all about? The cross has become something cheap to the world. People wear crosses around their neck if they don't even have the slightest interest in Jesus. But the cross is an emblem of suffering and shame and of the cruel death that the best human being who ever walked the planet suffered in our place.
Embrace the Cross: Draw Nearer and Find Love and Redemption
Friends, draw nearer. Don't stand far and look at this from a distance. I pray that you draw nearer in prayer by reading the Word or by listening to songs like these and messages like these. To be reminded what this cross the old rugged cross stands for.
And I hope that you this week can say “I love that old cross. I love what it represents: that Jesus gave himself up so that I could be saved.
May the old rugged cross, the Son of Jesus suffering for you, be your emblem and your deepest love today, Cross where the dearest and thanks for all the last sinners was so.
