Thursday | Week 14

I vividly remember the first time I really heard this story. I remember where I was sitting, and I remember the person who communicated it. I was a junior in high school. I had grown up in a solid Christian home and knew some of the general facts about the story, but when I understood what happened and how it happened, it was stunning. 

I certainly didn’t grasp it all then, and I haven’t come close to truly grasping the magnitude of it now. I’m pretty sure I was initially overwhelmed by the sheer physical and emotional brutality of the whole event. As time has passed, the magnitude of what happened on the cross has become far more than physical and emotional brutality. 

The spiritual brutality that Jesus endured as He somehow absorbed our sin is incomprehensible. It becomes even more incomprehensible when one realizes that Jesus was in charge of the whole event, and that nothing happened that He didn’t allow to happen. People could not even touch Him if He didn’t choose it (see John 18:5-6).

This came home to me after the movie, The Passion of the Christ. As we were leaving the movie, there was a high-school aged girl sitting on a bench and she was sobbing. She commented that, “She put Jesus on the cross”.  I knew what she meant but she missed the bigger picture.  She didn’t put Jesus on the cross, I didn’t put Jesus on the cross, you didn’t put Jesus on the cross. Jesus chose to put Himself on the cross. He wasn’t obligated to do that, but He chose to. He didn’t owe us anything. To be sure, it was for our sakes, but it was His choice. That is the overwhelming heart of the story. John 19:30 says, “Jesus said ‘It is finished’.  With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”  It wasn’t taken from Him. He gave it up. Amazing! 

This has come to mean more and more over the years. As I have gotten older, I have become increasingly aware of the sin that permeates my life. The result of my introspection is an ever-increasing appreciation of the cross. It is truly amazing grace.  

Hallelujah! What a Savior!