The Cross Made The Change
The Cross Made The Change
“I had been meditating on the tension between Christ's humanity and deity and how hard it must have been for common people to see him as the son of God. This led to a melody and some lyrics for a chorus and a few scattered ideas for verses. I knew I was supposed to share this with the group. We spent the first bit of time just discussing this idea from a biblical perspective and the song slowly started to come together. This song celebrates the simple human dignity of our savior, showing us that God's miraculous power is revealed in a humbly incarnate Christ.” (Justin Gray)“Justin brought the simple and brilliant line “the cross made the change” to me and Aaron. I love how concise the song remains while speaking into an incredible complex topic, the transformative power of Jesus in our lives. I’m forever enthralled by how surprising and wonderful the changes in my life are as I look to my Creator and grow closer to Jesus.” (Kevin Dailey)
“Meditating on how to communicate the human part of Christ with Justin and Kevin was a harder task than I initially imagined. Justin brought the imagery of the teenage mother, unbelieving brother, and man in poverty and it felt like what came next needed to also convey the revolutionary aspect of who Christ chose to be when he walked among us. We worked really hard, never gave up on the song, and when we shared it at the evening showcase, it seemed to take on a life of it’s own.” (Aaron Strumpel)
THE CROSS MADE THE CHANGE
Written by Justin Gray (BMI), Kevin Dailey (SESAC), Aaron Strumpel (ASCAP)
© 2018 Common Hymnal Digital (BMI), Every Nation Songcasting (BMI), Common Hymnal Online (SESAC), Kip Central (SESAC), Common Hymnal Publishing (ASCAP), Thirsty Dirt Records (ASCAP) (admin by IntegratedRights.com). CCLI 7123291.
VERSE 1
Dm C Dm C
When they saw Jesus, they saw a teenage mother
Dm C Dm Am
They saw an unbelieving brother, just a man in poverty
Dm C Dm C
But when I see Jesus, I see the sovereign and a savior
Dm C Dm Am
I see the healer of the nations, I see the stone rolled away
PRE CHORUS
Dm C G
Nobody thought that this son of sorrows
Dm C G
Would be broken for love to fix our tomorrows
CHORUS
F C
But it’s the cross that made the change
F C
It’s the cross that made the change
Dm Am
And I’ll let everybody know
F C
That it’s the cross that made the change
VERSE 2
When they saw Jesus, they saw a rebel and a problem
They did everything to stop him, even put him on a tree
But I when see Jesus, I see the sovereign and the savior
I see the healer of the nations, I see the glory from Galilee
BRIDGE
F C Dm C
Now when we see Jesus we become like Jesus
F C/E Dm Am
When we know how he sees us, we will never be the same
More Songs Written By Justin Gray
I’m a church kid. And though I am grateful for my Christian upbringing, it feels uncomfortable to acknowledge mostly because of the tension between by professed belief and contrary actions for most of my life. This is the very tension that calls into question the sincerity of believers both from within and without the church. This is also the tension into which God inserts himself and brings about a beautiful resolution to the discordant experiences of our lives.
The Cross Made The Change is a song which acknowledges the paradox of the historical Jesus; a man who was God and a God who was man.
I marvel that in Christ we find a person who was human enough to experience an unprivileged childhood in Nazareth, but God enough to astound the teachers of the Torah in Jerusalem. He was human enough to be hungry, but God enough to feed thousands with just a few scraps. He was human enough to be found sleeping on a boat, but God enough to tame a tempest with just his voice. He was human enough to hang lifeless on a Roman cross, but God enough to take up his body in resurrection power.
This song is for every person who has seen their humanity and despised it, not realizing that it was the very thing that God came in human flesh to redeem. It truly is the cross that made the change for each of us. I pray that you see the beauty in this paradox and are called to worship Jesus in all of his fulness.
Justin Gray
“When we see Jesus, we become like Jesus / When we see how he sees us, we will never be the same”. The refrain in the bridge of this soulful song is about the exhilarating dynamic of the personal transformation that occurs simply by gazing at God. I think this line was inspired by the psalmist’s words “Those who look to him are radiant…” and the message of the beatific vision in John’s first epistle: when we see him, we will be like him.
When Justin showed up for our co-write with the beginnings of this song, the imagery of Jesus having a teenage mother and an unbelieving brother really captivated my imagination. And then the kicker line, “just a man in poverty,” hits and all of the sudden, Jesus, fully God and fully Man, becomes tangibly human. I can relate.
Moreover, the specific imagery of those human lines bring to mind an upside-down Kingdom-kind of Savior. Weakness, poverty, and derision were the things the status-quo gave him as a man.
But there’s more to the story, and to the song. There are the lines that speak of his divinity and then, with just a few words, I’m contemplating one of the greatest juxtapositions in spirituality: the presence of the divine and human in one being. I just love it when art can take a complicated idea and with a few words or a simple image, put things into context in a way in which my mind and heart can be thrilled and given a certain kind of clarity.
Finally, the song, the hook, the whole thing is just a banger. It wants to be not just sung, but stomped. Being a part of the writing and refinement of this one was a thrill!