For Christians, the “Message of the Cross” cannot be overstated. As a prelude to my testimony scheduled for August 1st, I wanted to share a poem regarding the transformation of the meaning of the cross (for me) from a historical tool of death and suffering to a redeeming instrument of life rather than death; love rather than hatred; and joy rather than sorrow.
“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (KJV - Philippians 2:8)
“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (KJV - 1 John 2:2)
(Consider) The Tree
There they were crippled on the lawn
The morning after the storm had passed
Two trees crisscrossed, one on top of the other
Striking the sign of the cross
Symbolic pose of 6th century BC
to 4th century AD
Instrument of death by the most tortuous
and painful of ways
Earlier, before the sun turned on its light
I emerged from an insentient slumber
And looked out a window
To the somber painting-like rendering
Of the Crucifixion
On what happened to be, oddly enough
Palm Sunday
Compelled to consider the tree
My attention turned to a wooden graphic
A bit more theological…The Cross
Where the unblemished Lamb
God’s only Son
Was nailed to the intersection
Of God’s love and justice
Sacrificial blood flowing red
Revealing His character
Of greater love hath no man than this
- Mickey Grubb
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But what I recognized later that morning
From my regular place on the pew
Was the mercy tree where He hung for my iniquities
Secured by the nails driven by my sin
Wearing the thorns woven by my shame
He who is sinless and pure
Died in my place
An atoning sacrifice for my transgressions
All because He loves me more than I can imagine
Toward evening, a once active chainsaw
Had left behind a sprinkling of sawdust
Along with a scattering of a few ragged leaves
Remnant reminders of a storm’s clamor
And the place of two windblown trees
It is my prayer
That one day, you too, may rise at dawn
And look out a window
Copyright © 2018 by Mickey Grubb
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