On the Cross of Calvary - Jesus died for you and me.

During Holy Week, there will be lunch hour meetings held at the Central Corps Hall and I've been asked to be responsible for the meeting on Wednesday. 27th March. The message will be on one of the seven sayings of the cross - "The Cry of Dereliction" from the lips of our Lord hanging on the cross at Calvary. It is the cry of despair, "My God, My God why have You forsaken Me."

I've spent a lot of time reflecting on this message.This cry from the cross is really far too deep for my puny mind to comprehend. Try as I might, I find it difficult to probe and plumb into the depths of this brief cry from Jesus.

But I am comforted that however low I may feel - facing, misunderstanding, rejection, abandonment, that sense of forsakeness, my Lord has been through it all. My situation cannot be compared with His.

Think of it, the agony in Gethsemane, that last moment when He could have turned and flee, but He did not. He came to fulfil the Father's will and purpose to save the world. There followed the betrayal by one of His closest friends. Then the arrest, the rigged trial, and the pain He had to bear when the whip was lashed to His tired body. He was abused, mocked and finally nailed to that shameful cross reserved for criminals. He did it all for the whole of mankind. Yes, He did it for me!

We cannot fully understand let alone explain this terrible state of abandonment. We can only bow in humble adoration and say, It was for me that Jesus died on the cross of Calvary.