Faithful Love

Faithful Love

When you think of the last phrase of that song, 'For I've seen faithful love face to face, and Jesus is His name,' it calls to mind one of the most dramatic scenes of Jesus' death recorded in the gospel of Mark, chapter 15 verses 33-39:

At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah." One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said. With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"

It says that the Roman centurion stood in front of Jesus and saw. What did he see? He saw the way Jesus died, the compassion Christ had for those who killed Him. Jesus' willingness to forgive humanity for this atrocity.

When we stand before the cross of Christ. . .when we meet at His communion table together each first day of the week, what do we see? I believe that we have a chance to see Jesus and his love. We have the chance to say, 'I've seen faithful love face to face, and Jesus is His name.'