Never Was Grief Like His

I know this is a long post but trust me, it is worth it. This is a portion of my Sunday School lesson on 'How did Jesus win our salvation?' Read the passage please. It left me speechless...

Excerpts from 'The Sacrifice' by George Herbert

"With clubs and staves they seek me, as a thief,
Who am the Way and Truth, the true relief;
Most true to those, who are my greatest grief:
Was ever grief like mine?
See, they lay hold on me, not with the hands
Of faith, but furie: yet at their commands
I suffer binding, who have loosed their bands:
Was ever grief like mine?
Arise, arise, they come. Look how they run!
Alas! what haste they make to be undone!
How with their lanterns do they seek the sun!
Was ever grief like mine?
Therefore my soul melts, and my heart's dear treasure
Drops blood (the only beads) my word to measure:
Was ever grief like mine?
These drops being tempered with a sinner's tears
A balsome are for both the hemispheres:
Curing all wounds, but mine; all, but my fears:
Was ever grief like mine?
So sits the earth's great curse in Adam's fall
Upon my head; so I remove it all
From th' earth unto my brows, and bear the thrall:
Was ever grief like mine?
The soldiers also spit upon that face,
Which angels did desire to have the grace,
And prophets, once to see, but found no place:
Was ever grief like mine?
'O ye all who pass by, behold and see';
Man stole the fruit, but I must climb the tree;
The tree of life to all, but only me:
Was ever grief like mine?
Such sorrow as, if sinful man could feel,
Or feel his part, he would not cease to kneel,
Till all were melted, though he were all steel:
Was ever grief like mine?
'Now heal thy self, Physician; now come down.'
Alas! I did so, when I left my crown
And father's smile for you, to feel his frown:
Was ever grief like mine?
In healing not my self, there doth consist
All that salvation, which ye now resist;
Your safety in my sickness doth subsist:
Was ever grief like mine?
But now I die; now all is finished.
My woe, men's weal: and now I bow my head.
Only let others say, when I am dead,
Never was grief like mine."

He suffered more than we can even imagine, to gain the love we so rarely give Him. How truly great is our God!