The Splintery Cross

Today, as I read Philippians 2:5–8, God uncovered new depths of His experience on the cross as it relates to you and me. He showed me the splintery old wood on which other men had already been crucified. Their blood had soaked into that wood long before Jesus was nailed to it. In a sense, their blood mingled with His.

Whoa, what? Let’s backtrack a bit.

Paul tells us in these verses to have the same mindset as Christ in our relationships with others. That statement alone is powerful. What was His mindset throughout His life?

First, Jesus always wanted to be with His Father. We see this when He stayed behind in Jerusalem as a boy. When His earthly parents found Him teaching in the temple, He simply said, “I had to be in My Father’s house.” His mind was set on the Father. Ours must be too.

Second, Jesus taught that the greatest commandment is to love God with everything we are: mind, body, soul, spirit, finances, and relationships. From that love flows the way we treat others. The mindset of Christ respects people, listens to them, communicates with them, and genuinely values their company. Humility, sincerity, and steadfast love shape the way we interact with those around us.

Third, although Jesus had authority over all creation, He never used His power for personal gain. Instead, He became like the very people He came to rescue. He experienced pain, hurt, joy, hope, disappointment, frustration, and sadness. He lived the full range of human experience. His humility calls us to walk in the same spirit.

Verse 8 reveals something even deeper.

“And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross,” (NIV).

The cross was not simply a method of execution. In a beheading, death comes quickly once the blade falls. Crucifixion was different. A person could linger for days, slowly suffocating. Because the feet were nailed, victims couldn’t push themselves up enough to breathe normally. Each breath required agonizing effort.

It was a slow suffocation.

In many ways, that mirrors what life can feel like for us. There are seasons when the pressure of circumstances feels like an elephant sitting on our chest. Anxiety tightens our lungs. Fear and exhaustion make us gasp for emotional air. We feel overwhelmed, desperate for relief.

Jesus already felt that weight.

Because He experienced the pressure, fear, abandonment, and pain, He invites us to release our burdens to Him. In essence He says, “Let Me carry that. I’ve already carried it.”

We also know what it feels like to be paralyzed by life. Depression, oppression, shame, and trauma can immobilize us emotionally the way nails immobilized Jesus physically. Yet even in paralysis, there is hope.

I often think of Joni Eareckson Tada. Though confined to a wheelchair, she remains one of the most emotionally, mentally, and spiritually capable women of our time. Her life reminds us that circumstances may not change, but our posture toward them can.

Jesus showed this on the cross. Though nailed in place, He forgave the thief beside Him and ensured His mother would be cared for by entrusting her to John. Even in agony, He continued to love.

Before reaching the cross, Jesus had already endured deep shame. His own brothers did not believe in Him. His hometown rejected Him. The religious leaders targeted Him. His beard was pulled out, a symbol of disgrace. He was stripped naked, one of the deepest forms of humiliation in Jewish culture.

Then came the cry that echoes through human history: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” That cry exposes the paralyzing force of shame. It was not His shame. It was ours. He willingly carried it.

The final image God impressed on my heart was the wood itself. Crosses were reused. The blood of guilty men had soaked into those beams. Their blood met His.

That truth struck me deeply.

As believers we often say that Christ’s blood covers us. On that cross, His blood truly met ours. The One Who was perfectly clean allowed Himself to become unclean so that we could be made whole.

On that splintery slab of wood, the ultimate exchange took place. Jesus took on every burden that suffocates us, every shame that paralyzes us, and every wound that threatens to destroy us.

His blood and ours met there. Through that exchange, the baggage of our past was erased.

Something to think about.

Reflection

Where in your life do you feel suffocated by pressure, shame, or fear today? What burden might Jesus already have carried that He is asking you to release into His hands?

Prayer

Lord, thank You for carrying the weight of every burden I face. Help me trust that the cross was enough. Teach me to release the pressures that suffocate my soul and to rest in the victory that You have already won. Amen.