There is a Lenten hymn whose words have special meaning for me:

“There is a green hill far away, beyond the city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all.

We may not know, we cannot tell what pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us he hung and suffered there

That has been the affirmation of the Christian faith for 2,000 years now, that although the crucifixion of Jesus took place a long time ago, at a location far removed from where we are, somehow in a profound way it was for us.

In what sense was it for us? Well, in order to deal with that question, we’ve got to go back to the beginning. The Bible says that in the beginning God created. He created everything that is. And, the supreme act of creation was the creation of human beings. The Psalmist sai…