Thorned

"They crucified him there," Luke 23:32.

The place of The Skull, where they drove nails through his hands and his feet onto the wood. They had already flogged him. They had already beaten a crown of thorns into his head. So they stripped him of his clothing to lay him bare for all to see the shame. Hanging on nails between heaven and earth. Blood from his whipped back. Blood from his thorned head. Blood from from his nailed hands. From his bloodied feet. Struggling for every breath. And when he died, blood and water from his spear-pierced side. His life blood: the cost to him for the redemption free to us.

When we meet with a brother or sister today, we remember the cost to him for our ransom. And together we give speechless thanks to God for the atoning sacrifice that yielded our cleansing.