I am posting another poem I wrote back in 1999. While on the cross, Jesus uttered the words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Just a short while before, He said, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” As I began thinking of those two phrases coming from the lips of my Lord, I began to realize that the anguish He felt wasn’t the dread of the physical pain, or at least not JUST that pain. He was preparing himself to experience something much worse. This poem is a result of that revelation from God.
His Greatest Loss
Written on: 1999-10-17
There He was, on His head He wore a thorny crown.
Drops of blood ran and dripped to the ground.
I could see the pain of the beatings clearly in His eyes.
In my head, I could still hear the crowd’s cries.
“Crucify Him!” they’d screamed. “Hang Him from a tree!”
I just stood quietly by. That says a lot about me.
I will never forget the anguished look on His face.
The pain He’d endured, just a part of the plan of grace.
But that seemed like nothing, compared to when,
For the first time, He faced death to pay for my sin.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” was what he said.
He took His last breath, then, in death, He bowed His head.
I didn’t understand then, just what He had lost.
As God turned His back to this man on the cross.
You see, He was a man, but, also God’s Son.
It had been foretold. He was the promised One.
He’d been one with God for an eternity past.
Even as a man, that oneness held fast.
Three days later a miracle took place.
Jesus rose again to complete God’s plan of grace.
His death paid for my sins and allowed God to forgive.
His life provided a more abundant life for me to live.
He’s in Heaven again with the Father above.
He had completed His mission of love.
He’d suffered the greatest of losses on Calvary’s tree.
He endured a separation from God just for me.
That is why I say “All praise be to His name”
For His greatest loss was my greatest gain.