Stemming from Melissa’s encouragement I was able to spend some time in prayer asking God to enlighten me on His perspective of the cross and how I should see it. Below is a journal entry from that time in prayer.

The cross is Beautiful.

The Father looks down upon His only Son and sees that He has been faithful. He sees that He has been obedient and that it has been a knit-together joy between the two. He is aware of the scorn, but He is moved by His Son’s willingness and the fact that Jesus wouldn’t have it any other way. Jesus is always the lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. He has died so that creation may once again be close, held in the Father’s arms. Held in warm wanted Love. The Father knows His Son’s heart and the partnership that They have shared equally in.

The cross is Ugly.

It has stripped away Jesus’ dignity. It has taken everything from Him. It has separated Father from Son and Jesus has been cursed by all men and condemned by His Father. The moment hangs in balance where darkness is at its darkest and death temporarily holds Jesus. Time is gruesome and nothing could be worse. Only tears, pain, and fear are felt by all of mankind. In this time there is no hope. Things could never be worse. The perfect is slayed, but the only thing heard is the voice of Jesus, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”