Remember Me By The Cross

Leanne Bonning
Sep 17, 2021
3 min read

He unclasped the gold chain that hung from his neck for thirty some years and put it around his love’s neck. It was a small chain with a delicate golden cross, small by size standards but huge in importance and relevance of his life’s journey. He said “Always remember me by the cross”.

Days and weeks later, those words would resonate with me in ways I cannot articulate. I know my thoughts are knitted together perfectly in the heavenly. And as so, I merely attempt to pin these thoughts to this page in such a way to remember the cross.

I hold the tiny cross. With reflection, I squeeze it into my thumb and cuddle the precious words of the gift giver …remember me by the cross.

How could one forget the cross?

This is the thought that invades my space. As I still press into the cross hanging gently around my neck, another thought comes quickly…Who was at the cross when Jesus died? I bet they revered the cross more so than anyone else because they were there. I bet they never forgot the cross.

Remember me by the cross. I wonder if Jesus hoped people would remember.

The thoughts keep coming. The symbolism of the cross, I cannot deny. They are pouring over me at this point. And I just sit in it. Like a bath of fresh cool water, I soak.

John 19:18: There they crucified him, and with him two others – one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Jesus in the middle. I find it no coincidence that Jesus was right there in the middle. Death came to two others that day and yet Jesus was in the middle. There can be very little difference between me and those thieves who died beside him. Yet he was in the middle with them. As tears puddle in the corners of my eyes, I am reminded that He is in the middle with me during the crushing moments of life. I remember him by the cross.

John 19:25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Through the scriptures, we also learn that John was at the cross with these women.

John and the women stood at the cross. Hearts broken. Faces smeared with the dust and tears of a horrible day of brutality and loss. Attempting to reduce the reality into pieces their minds could comprehend, and all the while prophesy was descending as the ground shook and light vanished. The crowds began to scatter back to their normalcies but for these lovers of Jesus, there would never be normal again. They would always remember him by the cross.

So when my love fastened that golden chain and cross around my neck and whispered “Remember me by the cross”, I could only respond with a smile but my soul rejoiced.

Gladness for the precious gift I had been given and the love that it represents.

Gladness for the giver; my partner and companion in this life.

Gladness for the redemption that the cross represents.

Gladness for the hope of salvation.

Gladness for the forgiveness He gave, the forgiveness I seek, and the forgiveness I grant.

I will always remember him by the cross.