Yesterday’s teaching at church really challenged me. What were the emotions that Jesus experience in his final hours? What was it like, in his humanness, to experience the betrayal of a friend, accusations of crimes he did not commit by people he knew, the terror of the floggings and mistreatment by individuals who probably did not know him, the cross he was made to carry through the streets he had walked all his life, the nails, no, the spikes driven through his hands and feet and the spear in his side?
How was he able to endure the total darkness that descended on him when his beloved father turned away in his greatest time of need?
Jesus, being part of the triune God, knew much more about what awaited him in heaven than he ever shared during his time with us on earth. Of this I am sure. How else could he have accepted his selfless act and not called out for legions of angels to whisk him away.
There must have been a great amount of fear coursing through him as he looked forward to what was about to happen. Having chosen to take on humanness, and be born as an infant just like you and I, then to grow into manhood just as we did, well, it really changes things for me. On the one hand he was still God but on the other he is just like you and me. He bled red blood when he hit his thumb with a mallet or when he fell and skinned his knee. His skin stung when a sliver pierced his skin while working wood. His eyes would have had difficulty adjusting to the bright sunlight after spending time indoors.
I’m not sure at all how the divine/human part worked or works and I may have my thoughts and ideas a little messed up and jumbled, but that is what it is to be me – always wondering and looking forward to what I might uncover and understand.
I still have a drive to appreciate and imagine what was going on. You see, this story is really not so much about Jesus and what He did but about the love our Heavenly Father has for Him and for you and me! Sounds kind of funny, I know, but it is true. God has a love for Jesus and you and me that is unimaginable for us humans to understand. But that does not stop me from trying.
God allowed Jesus to take on the sin of the world. It was his choice and his alone. Why would Jesus make this choice? Why would he choose this path knowing what the eventual outcome would be death? Was there no other way?
While being crucified is one of the most horrible avenues to death man has devised, beyond that, Jesus became, on the cross, my and your sin, past, present and future. Did you get that? He became sin for you and me. The Sinless One took on the ugly and wretchedness of our sin so we could have a chance at eternal life with Him in heaven.
What is my part in this? God, in his great love, only asks that we believe in Jesus, confess our sins to Him and ask Him for forgiveness. Here is what scripture says in John 3:16 - 18:
16For God loved the world in this way: so much that he would give up his Son, The Only One, so that everyone who trusts in him shall not be lost, but he shall have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world that he would condemn the world, but that he would give life to the world by him. 18Whoever believes in him is not judged, and whoever does not believe is judged already, because he does not believe in The Name of The Only Begotten Son of God.
What a miraculous gift! God loves you and me so much that he allowed Jesus to endure the cross and become sin so you and I might live! More over Jesus went through with it. You see he loves us that much too!
