THE SUFFERING OF THE SAVIOR

As is typical on a Tuesday morning, our staff team sat in a circle in C1 and (what was not typical) was doing a craft.  750 small wooden crosses needed to be "threaded," so that guests to our Good Friday services could receive a small token from the evening.

After most were threaded, I asked the question, "What does the cross mean to you?"  Our team pondered the question and wrote down 2-3 personal thoughts.  Sharing those thoughts around the circle was enriching.

Perhaps the most sober moment came when I mentioned what Jesus was facing "in the next 12 hours" after his last supper with his disciples.  "He knew he was going to be physically ripped apart.  Scripture predicted (cf. Isaiah 53) and describes (the Gospel accounts) the merciless brutalization of Jesus.  He knew he was willingly stepping into indescribable pain.  Which one of us would willing choose this?"

There were moments of silence and head shaking.   For some reason, just saying that ushered in some very holy and sobering moments.

WHAT OF THE SPIRITUAL AGONY?

During last Sunday's teaching, someone texted in this question.  Could you speak to the spiritual agony?

In some true sense, it is impossible to plumb the depths of our Savior's spiritual agony.  "He who knew no sin became sin for us..." (2 Corinthians 5:21).  How does the God-man, with two natures in one holy, human person, "become" sin, the very antithesis of God's character?

What we feel about sin, when we are feeling rightly about it, is what we feel when we walk through a holocaust museum littered with pictures of charred bones and skulls and emaciated faces on stick-line human frames.  Or when force ourselves to try to imagine the pain and fear of an abused and tortuously murdered child.  Even writing these words makes my insides turn, and yet somehow, God's holy Son, in taking on the likeness of sinful flesh, suffered in his soul the "you are the guilty one" agony of not just a few sinful thoughts or acts, but the totality of guilt and shame for all the sin that has been committed by the billions within the host of humanity.

Not only did he bear the guilt, but he also suffered the misunderstanding of what was happened.  Isaiah predicted, "We esteemed him stricken of God."   He was thought by many to be, rightly so, under God's curse.

To describe the agony of the Savior's soul is impossible.  Words cannot explain, express, or contain it.   The hymn tries to capture the wonder, "Jesus paid it all."

THE SACRIFICE OF LOVE

Perhaps most sobering is that God's holy Son chose to suffer physically and spiritually in order to demonstrate the immeasurable love God has for us.  "God demonstrated his own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

My request is that if you are reading this--perhaps worshipping in your heart the Savior who took your place -- that you love Him back.  Love Jesus.  Love Him back.  Believe in Him.  Worship Him.  Thank Him.  Follow Him.

If you do, the next time you see Him, you will hear not the agony of"My God, My God, why have you forsake me!!" but rather, "Well done.  Welcome home!"  He died to bring you home, to God.