When He Was on the Cross

When He Was on the Cross – Entry #7 of 7

This is the last Blog entry for this song and covers the following lines:

He knew me, yet he loved me
He whose glory makes the heavens shine
So unworthy of such mercy
Yet when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.
Yet when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.

I have often heard the question posed, “do we ever truly know someone?”; and it is a good question to ponder. When we say we know someone, I believe we are basing our opinions on the words, experiences, actions, and emotions of the person that we think we know. Even with all of this knowledge of someone, aren’t we often surprised by something they say or do? I do believe we know the person by an earthly or societal definition, but we really do not know their heart. My view is that we only know what people want us to know. I know that after forty years of marriage, I still do things that are a surprise to my wife. When the song says “He knew me”, I believe it is referring to Jesus really knowing our heart and being the only one who really knows us.

We may all have something in the deep recesses of our heart that we have never shared with anyone. Maybe it is an action that we took, an action we would like to take, something we want to say, something we did say that we shouldn’t have, a feeling or prejudice we have, and the list goes on. Some of things we are ashamed of and really don’t want others to know about. It doesn’t mean we are bad people, it is just that our lives are never a completely open book. Yet when Jesus looked at the crowd that day and when he looks at us today, he sees all of these thoughts deep inside us. In spite of him knowing our deepest darkest secrets, he still loved the crowd that day and he still loves each of us. The good news is that he died on the cross that day so that our sins would be forgiven, all we have to do is accept him as our Lord and Savior. He doesn’t care who we were or who we are, he only cares about us belonging to him and spending eternity with him. So, despite all of our faults, he still loves us. He accepts us with unconditional forgiveness, and he is the only one who can respond in this manner since he alone can show such mercy. Despite all of the things we have done wrong in our lives and being completely unworthy of being with Christ, he overlooks it all and prepares us a place in eternity with him. Yes, we were unworthy of this mercy he has given us, but he forgave us and loved us anyway.

Jesus is the Light of the World and his love and forgiveness brought light into the spiritually dark world. Through his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension; Jesus brought a shining light to earth and to heaven. All who accept him will have that spiritual light which will abide with them for eternity. He expects us to carry that light to the world as he carried it for us. The witnesses at the transfiguration were able to see just how bright the spiritual light of Jesus would be in a dark world. The light of Jesus reflects the true glory of the Father. The glory of the Father means absolute truth, complete love, greatness, splendor, and honor. We can see all of this in Christ and we will be part of that glory once we join him in our heavenly home.

The song closes with the chorus sung twice and therefore a strong reminder that regardless of who we are or what we have done, he still loves us and we still are and have always been on his mind.

The first entry for the next song will be posted later this week.

When He Was on the Cross – Entry #6 of 7

Today I want to review the following lines of the song:

Though his eyes were on the crowd that day
He looked ahead in time
For when he was on the cross
I was on his mind

Jesus was hanging on the cross in pain that fateful day. He was between two criminals with the crowd jeering at him, but he was able to block all of this out as he focused on the next steps in the Father’s mission for him.

As Jesus looked across the crowd, I don’t believe he saw a mass of people. I believe he saw every face, every heart, and every emotion. He saw the hatred of those who had scorned him his entire life, joy on the faces of those who were just tired of hearing what they believed to be false teachings of a false king, and also those who came just to see the crucifixions and the suffering and didn’t really care who was on the crosses. A lot of these people were the ones yelling “crucify him.”

Maybe most of the people fell into groups above, but there were also the people who knew him and loved him. He saw sadness on the faces of the people whom he healed and given a much better quality of life. Some of these were the people who were once lame, once blind, once invalid, and even once dead. Those who truly loved Jesus such as his family, especially his mother Mary, had watched Him grow up and now see him leave this earth so young and in such agony. His disciples had been with Him almost 24-7 for three years and He had been their leader and friend. All of those who loved him were probably devastated and wondering how they could go on with their lives. They did not truly understand that he was coming back, even though he had told them He would return.

While he saw the faces, perhaps he was looking at the future of each person as well as his part in each of their lives to-date and what was ahead for each of them. Jesus may have shed tears of sadness for leaving them distraught, but he also knew what tomorrow would bring for each one there. He knew his purpose and perhaps even shed some tears of joy because of the future he was preparing for all of those who loved him and would accept him as their Savior. Jesus knew this was the most painful part of this journey, but it was just a blink of an eye in the Father’s grand plan. Jesus knew that he would be rising from the grave in three days. He would calm the fears of those loved ones he left, wipe their tears away, and secure their future. He saw the stone being rolled away from the garden tomb, the resurrection, surprising his followers, ascending into heaven, and preparing a place for us.

I often see paintings depicting what it might be like when we enter heaven’s gates. My favorites are ones showing the people falling into the arms of Jesus as they start life anew. I can’t imagine standing there in the arms of Jesus, he died a painful death for that embrace.

When he was on the cross, I was on his mind.

When He Was on the Cross – Entry #5 of 7

Thorns were on his head
The blood was on his scarlet robe
And stained it crimson red

Jesus was referred to as the king of the Jews and the soldiers mocked him by putting a crown of thorns on his head, just wanting to add to his humiliation. The crown of thorns also added one more area of pain, another source of bleeding, and torture for Jesus to endure. The people even bowed to him in a mocking manner to try and make him feel as if He were the lowest being on earth. Little did these captors realize that this crown would be replaced by a crown of glory when Jesus became the King of kings and Lord of lords. They did not realize that one day every knee would bow and every tongue confess him to be the true King.

It is interesting to me that the crown was made from a plant that did not even exist until Adam and Eve sinned while in the Garden of Eden. As a result of their sin, they were told they would have thorns and thistles in their fields of crops. Thorns originated after that first sin and have now been woven into a crown of thorns for the Savior who had the power to forgive sins. A little irony….

There is often confusion over whether the robe of Jesus was purple or scarlet. Two of the writers of the gospels portrayed it as scarlet and two reported it as purple. It is most likely that the robe placed on Jesus was an old faded robe and it would be difficult to tell if the robe, when new, was either scarlet or purple. A faded robe, with the red being the core color, could appear to be a different color depending on the age of the robe and perhaps even the lighting. It is unlikely that Jesus would have been given a new purple robe since that is what was worn by leaders such as Pontius Pilate. It is also unlikely that a soldier would have given up a new scarlet robe. So a faded robe is the most likely scenario and thus the challenge of distinguishing the proper color. I know that I find it challenging at times, to determine the true original color of some of my favorite and very worn t-shirts.

Putting the color of the robe aside, the most important point is regardless of the color of the robe, it was stained with the blood of our Savior. He had blood flowing from his merciless whipping as well as blood flowing down his face from the crown of thorns. We probably are not even aware of any other wounds Jesus might have received along the way as he carried the bar of the cross. Perhaps his shoulders bled from the carrying the weight of the crosspiece, maybe his hands were bleeding because of the roughness of the wood, perhaps he fell and caused yet another injury, and perhaps he had wounds as a result of items thrown by the unruly crowd. Factoring in what we know for sure and other potential injuries, his blood was flowing onto the robe that had been placed upon him. I am thinking this was already a heavy robe and it was getting even heavier with the blood and sweat of Jesus and thus making his burden even greater.

Parts of the robe were gradually absorbing the freely flowing blood and soaking all the way through the robe. Fresh blood is typically described as a crimson color, so the faded purple/scarlet robe was slowly becoming crimson reflecting the location of the wounds that had been inflicted.

Hopefully I have now set the stage for the wonderful message coming in the next few lines of the song.

When He Was on the Cross – Entry #4 of 7

This Blog entry covers the following two lines:

I was on his mind
A look of love was on his face

Reflecting back on my last Blog, it is still so difficult to imagine the suffering Christ endured solely for us.What is on your mind today?

If you are like me, you have so many things you are thinking about and so many things going on; that it is hard to focus on what needs to get done right now, what can be done later today, and what can be pushed off until tomorrow or even later. Our activities and our thoughts are often driven by family, other people, our jobs, illness, daily news, our to-do items, and the list goes on. Many times we have trouble sleeping because our mind is constantly on and thinking about what we didn’t get done today, what we forgot to do, and what we need to do tomorrow. Maybe some of us are enduring physical pain and are struggling just to make it through each day until we hopefully feel better and get well. In all of these situations, it is very challenging to maintain our focus because of all of these issues and distractions.

Jesus was on the cross and his body was wracked with pain and knowing that his time was coming to an end. Through it all, each of us as individuals were on his mind; note the song says “I” was on his mind. He knew that what he was doing was for each of us, he had nothing to gain since he knew he would soon be heading back home after another short period on this land. Even without any personal gain, and despite all of the pain; we were still the most important thing to him and overcame all of this and focused on each of us.

One of the amazing thoughts put forward in this song is that the next line, “A look of love was on his face.” It would be easy to look down and show anger and hatred to those who were laughing at him, mocking him, and those who participated in nailing him to the cross. Jesus loves everyone regardless of what they do to him or say about him. He only knows love since He is love. I wonder how some of the mockers felt as they looked into the face of Jesus and saw that love in his eyes, perhaps many of them felt ashamed and turned away. Perhaps some went to Mary or a follower of Jesus to find out more about why they followed Him, why they loved Him, and why Jesus looked as if He even loved those who had tortured him and were now killing him. Maybe one of those who had been ridiculing him accepted him that day as the Son of God and the only way to eternal life.

It was not the words of Jesus that day that grabbed the attention of the people, it was the lack of words and the Look of Love.

When He Was on the Cross – Entry #3 of 7

This Blog entry is focused on the single line below since I believe it is part of a powerful foundation for the rest of the song.

For when He was on the cross

We can see pictures of people on crosses, with many of these pictures based on crucifixions that took place during Roman times. In our society today, we seldom see people subjected to this type of torture and prolonged agony.
Crucifixion was designed to be gruesome, humiliating, painful, torturous, and filled with excruciating pain. The Romans seemed to have perfected the process over a 400-500 year period until Constantine stopped the practice in the 4th century. Crucifixion was mostly used on slaves, disgraced soldiers, Christians, and foreigners; but rarely on Roman citizens.

Those on the cross might live a few hours or a few days depending on their strength and how the crucifixion was conducted. It was common for the people to be stripped completely naked before the process began, which added to the humiliation. Sometimes the person may have been whipped or beaten, sometimes they had to carry the horizontal piece they would be nailed upon, perhaps there was a small seat on the upright beam, or perhaps a small footrest; any/all of these helped to determine how long a person would survive. Note that the horizontal piece of the cross may have weighed as much as 100 pounds and a complete cross could have weighed as much as 300 pounds.

Imagine the blood that was flowing from the beatings and due to the nails driven into the hands/wrists and feet. The nails were not like the nails we use to build houses, they were more like spikes. They were typically made of iron and were 4’” – 6” long. Larger 5”-7” spikes were probably used to nail the feet to the cross. All of these nails were square and approximately 3/8” in diameter, which is over twice the diameter of the nails used in residential construction today. The nails said to have been driven into the hands, were typically driven between the two bones in the forearm just above the wrist. Nails placed in the hands would probably come out quickly due to pressure and the hand would have split through the fingers. The Greek word used for hand, actually indicates and area below the elbow to the hand.

In addition to the extreme loss of blood, the victim was enduring the extreme pain caused by trying to support their bodies as they tried to breathe. Think about the gasping breaths as the victims struggled. The Roman soldiers would often get tired of waiting on the individual to die and would frequently break the legs so the person could not use their legs to support their weight. Once the arms and legs gave way, the person would die of asphyxiation if they have not already died of other causes such as heart failure, blood loss, or dehydration. Sometimes, the soldiers want to extend the time on the cross just to cause more torture and humiliation and therefore did not take any actions to hasten death.

Once the crucified was dead, they were often left on the cross as an example and a reminder to all to obey the laws of Rome. Many corpses stayed on the cross until they simply decayed or were eaten by wild animals.

As we picture Jesus on the cross, take a minute to think about what he was experiencing mentally, emotionally, and physically. He was the Son of God, yet he had to endure this to fulfill the mission given to him by the Father and to take the next step in offering us the gift of eternal life. I am not sure I can even begin to comprehend what He and the victims had to endure. In the case of Jesus, who had committed no crime, He was crucified an innocent man and was only on the cross to follow God’s plan for him.

I know I have shared some gory details of crucifixion, but it is important to understand the suffering Christ endured just to show his love for each of us. It was really the love he had for each of us that held Him to the cross; no power on earth could have held him against His will.

When He Was on the Cross – Entry #2 of 7

This entry covers the following two lines in the song:

But I’ll prove someday just why I say
I’m of a special kind

Many people seem to focus their life on proving something as opposed to accepting who they are. Sometimes we have a hard time accepting who we are and spend way too much time thinking about being like other people. Some people are going to be very intellectual, some are going to have a lot of common sense, some are going to be scientists, some are going to be farmers, some are going to be wealthy financially and some are going to be wealthy in other areas of their lives. We can either dream about being someone we are never going to be or we can accept who we are and be the person God wanted us to be. What do we really have to prove? We have a relatively short life on this earth and then, assuming we have accepted Christ as our Savior, we will have eternity in heaven. There is nothing wrong with dreaming and maybe admiring others, but our focus should be on being the person God really wants us to be. He wants our heart, not our accomplishments.

When God created us, we were created as unique individuals and each of us has a purpose. We may understand that purpose early in life or we may gain understanding later in life; but it is all in God’s timing. The purpose in our life comes from who God created us to be and it resides deep in our heart and soul. We have a tendency to assess/judge people based on appearance and perhaps actions, but we do not know their heart nor God’s purpose/mission for them. People we categorize as bad sometimes do good things and people we categorize as good sometimes do bad things. Judging others is something we should never do since we do not know the inner works of their heart or the reason behind why God put them on this earth.

What we should know is that we were put here for a unique purpose and that by accepting him, we become his children. If we know Christ as our Savior, we are rewarded with the gift of eternal life; He alone can grant us this gift. Christ loves everyone and wants them to be His people; but many do not return His love and therefore will never feel what it is like to belong to him. The bible tells us we are chosen out of this world once we accept Christ. I do believe Christ has a broken heart for all of those who do not return his love and his offer of eternal life.

Even though we can’t grant the gift of eternal life to anyone, we can certainly tell them about how to become part of God’s family. We all have the responsibility to deliver this message so that everyone we meet as the opportunity to understand what it means to be a Child of God. We are set apart with God once we have accepted Christ and we want to make sure everyone we meet has that opportunity. Another powerful objective we have in our lives is to show love to others and make them feel wanted and needed while on this earth. I read a daily devotion from Max Lucado and here is a story that shows how making someone special can change a life.

“I once shared a class with a girl who got engaged. I don’t remember much about the class except the hour was early and the teacher was dull. I don’t even remember the girl’s name. I do remember that she didn’t stand out in the crowd. She was shy and not very confident. One day, however, her hair changed, her outfit changed, and even her voice changed. She spoke with confidence. What made the difference? Simple. A young man she loved looked her squarely in the eye and said, “Come and spend forever with me.” He proposed to her. His love for her convinced her she was worth loving.”

No matter what others may think, those who have accepted Christ truly are of a Special Kind. We are not perfect and we will make a lot of mistakes, but we know where we will spend eternity.

When He Was on the Cross – Entry #1 of 7

The song this first series of Blogs will analyze is a song written by Mike Payne and Ronnie Hinson in 1983. A link to the song as sung by the Florida Boys is at the bottom of this entry.

When He was on the Cross

I’m not on an ego trip
I’m nothing on my own
I made mistakes and often slip
Just common flesh and bones
But I’ll prove someday just why I say
I’m of a special kind
For when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.
A look of love was on his face
Thorns were on his head
The blood was on his scarlet robe
And stained a crimson red
Though his eyes were on the crowd that day
He looked ahead in time
For when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.
He knew me, yet he loved me
He whose glory makes the heavens shine
So unworthy of such mercy
Yet when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.
Yet when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.

We often read and hear about Christ on the cross, how he suffered, how he reached out to the criminals beside him, and how he died on that cross. All of this is true and I know there is more to the story, but I wanted to review some of other surrounding aspects of this event as written in this song.

I’m not on an ego trip, I’m nothing on my own

Wow, think about the culture of today; it often seems as if we live in an “all about me” and “right now” world. So many people live in the moment, want to know “what’s in it for me”, and forget the big picture and how others are part of everything they do. Many articles are published today about people who don’t want to earn their way in a career, they don’t want to do their time, they want to start at the top. Many people are focused on starting with the big house and the new car since that is what many of their friends have or strive to have as quickly as possible. The faith of so many people is in themselves and that they alone are in control of their destiny.

There seems to be way too much focus on “what I did and what I have” as opposed to who helped get them there and how they would have failed without those who supported them. The songwriter states that he/she is not striving for the spotlight, to promote themselves as the best, or to promote an “all about me world”. He/she knows they are nothing without help from others. These people surely want to be successful in all parts of their life, but they are not seeking press and platitudes since they know the journey from who they are to who they will become is not solely in their hands. We all need help to get to the end of our life’s journey. There is nothing wrong with success, the issue is any self pride or ego associated with that success, and the lack of acknowledging that you could not have done it alone.

I made mistakes, often slip, just common flesh and bones.

These are the humble people who admit their mistakes and weaknesses; they know they are just human beings and were never meant to be perfect. It is more important to acknowledge who we really are than it is to pretend we are someone we are not. We need to realize we don’t know all of the answers; we probably don’t even know all of the questions. We must pick ourselves up after every failure and start marching forward again along with those who are there to be part of our journey. Every failure and every stumble brings new knowledge and perhaps more support as our journey continues.

When He Was on the Cross Sung by the Florida Boys