I was reading about the nails used in the Crucifixion, and it made me think about a few things.

What if Jesus was reminded about his future everyday of his life? You have to realize that He worked as a carpenter with Joseph longer than He was a “preacher.” Imagine hammering nails into wood everyday while knowing that one day the same nails will be pierced through your hands instead. Maybe Jesus would shave the wood down for a table and think that it could also be made into a cross.

It is frightening to think that He grew up knowing about all of the inevitable, but He still had to get out of the bed in the morning. Jesus had to deal with it. What reminders do you hear all the time? Maybe a date reminds you of someone in your life. A spot in the road reminds you of an accident you had. It could be anything. Triggers are everywhere for people. They creep up and shock us, some more than others, but they exist all the same.

I cannot imagine living with the knowledge that Jesus had. It is with this though that His “Word made flesh” status shines through. You see in the scripture that the same Jesus is capable of two things. One being that He is strong enough to live with the reminder of his excruciating death, but the other being that He is human enough to beg God for it to be done a different way.

Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39

You see, there is no wrong in being strong or weak. We serve a God who is strong, but also understands what it feels like to fall into a weak stage. He knows how it is to beg and be afraid. He has seen it countless times, but He has also lived some of it.

The interesting to me though is that these nails followed Jesus His entire life, reminding Him of his crucifixion. But perhaps, they also reminded Him of why He was there in the first place.
When the guard hammered the nails into Him, did He see my face? Did He see yours? The very people killing Him were the same people He was taking it for. That is how He dealt with it. Those nails were a symbol of things to come. The good. The bad. Jesus saw through them both and knew it had to be done.

What are you seeing with your triggers? The pain, regret, and the memory or the lessons, opportunities, and good that came from it?