Good morning…
I knelt in the prayer chapel at Northside Church, asking God to hold close, to gently lead, to heal whole those facing various forms of agony. I had followed the footsteps of Jesus into this inner sanctuary. Then he withdrew from them a short distance to be alone. Kneeling down, he prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup of agony… But no matter what, your will must be mine.”
Jesus called for an angel of glory to strengthen him, and the angel appeared (Luke 22:41-43, TPT).
I called for the same glorious angel to appear, to strengthen the people experiencing excruciating pain.
Returning to my car, I read a text from our oldest daughter. She asked me to join her for the Stations of the Cross set up at her church, a contemplative display depicting with symbolic images, chosen Scriptures, narrative words, and voice recordings the final earthly days of Jesus. I accepted her invitation and am so glad I did.
This is one meaningful new morsel I took home from the multi-sensory experience: excruciating and crucifixion share the same root word.
Did you know that?
I didn’t.
Now in these early morning hours, I dig deeper with God into this fertile place of fresh learning.
Excruciating is derived from Latin. It can be broken down a bit, separated into ‘ex’ – ‘cruciating’. The prefix ‘ex’ in this case means ‘intense’ or ‘to the extreme’. The root word ‘cruciate’ is a direct reference to ‘crucem’, meaning ‘the cross’, which is the same root used in crucifixion. Thus, excruciating literally means “the overwhelmingly intense pain of the cross”.
After being betrayed and denied by his best friends, being brutally beaten and publicly nailed to a cross, and being utterly sure that his own Father was responsible for this horrendous ordeal (John 19:10-12), Jesus hung on the cross in excruciating pain. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, ESV).
“The actual meaning of excruciating is intense, profound torment,” explains Virily.com. “It is commonly used to describe the pain of an especially bad headache, toothache, or a similar pain that is very bad. More accurately, we can imagine a person with severe burns that cover three-quarters of their body as being in excruciating pain. Not even morphine will relieve the pain and such a victim is often put into an induced coma because of the pain.”
Intense, profound, excruciating torment can take different forms in our lives. Relentless emotional pain. Unbearable physical pain. Life-altering relational pain. Deep, mysterious spiritual pain. Our intense pain and the profound pain of our loved ones is often summed up best in the word excruciating. At every crucifixion something important dies . . . before resurrection power begins to surge.
During excruciatingly difficult moments in life, we are most prone to shout with our lips the gut-wrenching cry of Jesus: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” With our very next breath, might we also embody the wholehearted surrender of Jesus?
“Father… no matter what, your will must be mine.”
…Sue…
