The Price of Change

Nothing worth having is easy to get. We talk about hard work as requiring blood, sweat, and tears. Indeed, what price, change!

In laying the groundwork for that endeavor, Jesus prayed with “strong crying and tears” (Hebrews 5:7) to the One who could save him from crucifixion. Some copies of Luke note that in the Garden during that prayer he sweat, as it were, drops of blood (Luke 22:44). The crown of thorns, the scourgings, and the crucifixion shed his blood. Christ’s mission cost the sweat of effort, the pain of bloodshed, and the sadness of tears.

When people buck the world system, they have plenty of opponents. That is why it needs changing, and that is why we observe these tokens of the ultimate price he paid for doing just that. The implication is that his followers in that endeavor not only express appreciation for him, but pick up their crosses, so to speak, in like effort of similar degree—if that’s what it takes.