(Photo credit: Gerd Altmann via Pixabay.)
Do we ever stop and think about how much Jesus loves us?
It might be tempting to discredit His death on the cross. “Well, Jesus was fully God, so He could handle it,” we say.
It’s so easy to think solely about Jesus’s divinity and think that He lived an easy life. To think that dying on the cross wasn’t hard or that He didn’t feel pain.
Put yourself, if possible, in His sandals for a moment.
Jesus is the Son of God. He has a Kingdom and a throne in heaven, but He had to temporarily lay all that down in order to come save us.
We don’t know much about Jesus’s earthly life (other than His birth and the His three years of ministry), but I’m sure, like a typical child, He probably got hurt growing up.
During His ministry, He healed the sick, yes. He raised people from the dead, yes. But He also grew exhausted (Mark 4:38). After He had fasted in the wilderness for 40 days, Jesus was hungry (Matthew 4:2). He wept (John 11:35).
That still not enough to convince you?
One of His close friends, a man by the name of Judas Iscariot, betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver. Another one, Peter, denied He even knew Jesus. Thomas doubted Him.
How would you feel if one of your friends betrayed you? If someone you’d walked with and done life with for the past three years suddenly pretended that they didn’t know you? How would you feel if your friends didn’t believe you?
Not only did Jesus die for you and me, but He also died the worst death possible. Before He was killed, He was mocked, He was given a crown of thorns to wear that dug into his flesh, He was spat upon, and He was struck.
Still not convinced of Jesus’s humanity yet?
Jesus said Himself when He was first arrested in Matthew 26:53 and 54, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”
He was God, certainly. That’s why His death is so amazing and powerful. You see, He could’ve stopped the events set in motion long before they started. He could’ve asked His Father to send thousands of angels to protect Him and fight for Him before He was even taken to Pilate. Jesus could’ve spoken and with one word, his persecutors could’ve fell on their faces and worshipped Him.
Jesus didn’t have to offer Himself, but He knew that if He didn’t, none of us would ever be able to have a relationship with Him. He wanted us so much that He was willing to sacrifice Himself to redeem us. Isn’t that amazing love?
Think about the pain that Jesus felt as they tore His flesh and flogged Him, as they drove the nails into the palms of His hands and His feet.
He was left to hang on the cross for hours. He was thirsty. Jesus had willingly taken on the sin of the world, and in that moment, God had forsaken Him.
God has promised He will never leave us nor forsake us (Matthew 28:20, Deuteronomy 31:6). But in that dark moment, He turned His face away from Jesus.
Why did Jesus do it? Why did He suffer in the most excruciating way possible?
Because He loves us that much.
“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5.
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Love Unconditional 