Eyes on Jesus: He Suffered for Us

There was a time when you would hear a song somewhere and wonder what it was called. I remember once hearing a tune I could not quite place, so I actually called the radio station to ask about it. The DJ told me the exact name of the artist.

Now you can hum a few lines, and an app will tell you everything. The artist. The lyrics. The key. The tempo.

But what if the song you are hearing is about you? Written for you. Sung over you. Lived out in flesh and blood for you. Prayed for you. Taught for you. Died and risen again for you.

I confess I often gloss over the hymns we sing. I sing the words, but I do not always attend to them. I had not even noticed the hymn’s title, O Love, How Deep, How Wide, nor paid much attention to the theme for these devotions.

Yet God, in His grace, does not gloss over us. He orders our days and seasons and gives us Lent. A holy time to slow our steps. To watch. To listen. To hold vigil at the cross.

So let us sit with these words. Let us listen to the song that sings of God’s love for us:

For us He prayed;

for us He taught;

For us His daily works He wrought,

By words and signs and actions thus

Still seeking not Himself, but us.

For us.

This is love. Not sentimental love, but love that moves toward another. Still seeking not Himself, but us.

Here is the Gospel: even when I fail to attend to Him, He attends to me. Even when I gloss over His words, He does not gloss over me. Even when I only glance in His direction, He fixes His whole life upon mine.

His love is deep enough and wide enough to include me, as distracted and loveless as I can be.

It is not about naming the tune first. It is about being found by it.

In His cross and in His empty tomb, we discover, with spiritual eyes and ears, that our very life is the object of God’s desire. We were written into His saving song long before we understood the words. This is not a song about our glory, but about our rescue. It is the song our hearts have always longed to hear.

This Lent, fix your eyes on Jesus. Look at His cross. See the love that sought you there. And as you live within that love, may others come to hear that same song of mercy.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, when my attention wanders, Your love does not. In this holy season, teach me to watch and listen. Fix my eyes on Your cross and open my heart to the depth of Your love. Amen.

Pastor Curtis Dorsey

LWML Atlantic District Queens Zone Pastoral Counselor

Redeemer Lutheran Church, Glendale