Behold the Saviour

Rembrandt’s famous painting vividly depicts the prophet Jeremiah weeping over the destruction of Jerusalem.  The prophet’s own words ‘Is it nothing to you all you who pass by?’ are just as striking. But there is a scene outside the same city that we dare not, we must not, pass by. 

Three crosses are seen. Our attention is drawn to the central cross. The sight is horrific. A man of just 33 years, his face disfigured beyond recognition, his body twisted and contorted and, on his head, a crown of thorns. 

He prays for the soldiers – ‘Father, forgive them’. He speaks words of comfort to his mother and to a dying thief. Forsaken by his friends and by his God, his cry ‘I thirst’ provokes a stranger to dowse sponge in sour wine and put it on a pole to his lips. 

His strength is failing, he fights for breath. With one last effort he cries ‘It is finished’, then whispers a prayer, and breathes his last. 

This is Jesus (lit. Saviour). He planned and announced his own death, saying that he would ‘give his life as a ransom for many’, he would ‘lay down his life for the sheep’. 

Linger then at the cross. Look and see and know that he died for you. Fall at his feet and weep for the love that nailed him there. 

But know that if you just pass by, if it is nothing to you, the day will come when you will be swept away with the wicked and burned in the fire of divine judgment.