Love's Endeavor

Each piercing blow the hammer made
Reverberated terror.
His only son had been betrayed.
They'd made a fatal error.

Each drop of blood, so precious, shed;
Like tears of crushing sorrow,
Was filling me with horrid dread.
How could I face tomorrow?

He strained to take each painful breath.
I prayed his pain was ending.
Please help him find relief in death,
A certain course impending.

I heard him cry, "My God! My God!
Oh, why have you forsaken?"
I felt a shameful guilt, so odd;
My very soul was shaken.

The sun had lost the will to shine.
With strength almost diminished;
He spoke these words with voice divine,
A final, "It is finished."

The author of creation died
And all creation trembled.
It seemed the earth in sorrow, sighed
Against the crowd assembled.

As death received his only Son
The chains of death were broken,
For everything their hate had done
Was just what God had spoken.

The grave held glory from above
Until the time appointed,
But evil couldn't stop the love
Of God's one true anointed.

There must have been a mighty fuss
For death was left to cower.
Lord Jesus Christ returned to us
By resurrection's power.

You see, this all was in his plan
To change the world forever.
The endless gulf from God to man
Was spanned by love's endeavor.