As I prayed this morning, I asked the Lord to give me a word. Something to cling to today and he brought me to Hebrews 9:27-28, "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."
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As I read this scripture my mind continues to focus on an Easter drama that our church is doing. My entire family is a part of this production and we have been having the best time rehearsing, chit-chatting with everyone and actually getting to know people that we haven't taken the time to talk with before.
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Kristina is playing the part of Salome, Herodias' daughter. Gabe is playing a young boy in the crowd, I'm behind the scenes and Shane is a solider. When Shane agreed to be a solider he thought he was simply going to be a solider who was just there. But, he has learned that he is one of the soldiers who beats Jesus. He crucifies him! Shane has really been struggling with this. He is so tired after rehearsal and says that it takes everything he has not to weep as he goes through his scenes over and over again. As I sit and watch each week I have chills that run up and down my body as I envision that day....the day Jesus died.
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Jesus literally died with the world on his shoulders! I think to myself how awful the beating must have felt and how the pain must have radiated through his entire body with every strike but when I think that he must have felt the pain for you, for me, for my children, for my husband, for my friends, for my co-workers it makes my stomach hurt because if he died for all of our sins then he felt the pain of all of our sins time after time, hit after hit.
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He hung there on that cross while people mocked him and he wept. In the midst of his tears he did not ask God why. In the midst of his tears he did not try to make excuses. In the midst of his tears he simply said "Father, forgive them!"
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I think of Mary as she watched her precious child on that cross. I think of how she must have wept and how her heart must have broken in a million pieces as she watched her son take his last breath. I can't begin to fathom how she even breathed herself. I can see her kneeling at the base of that cross, with her son's blood dripping on her, pleading, begging and crying for there to be another way knowing all the while there was no other path that could be taken.
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In the midst of Mary's heartache I think of the pride that she must have felt as Jesus' mother. Her son, how brave he was....how brave he is! I sit here today with tears in my eyes because I just can't fathom a love like Jesus' love! I ache knowing what he did for me and my lowly self. I am humbled at his grace, his mercy, and his love thinking the whole time that the word love doesn't even seem big enough to cover what his feelings are for me! I love my children and I would lay my life down for them in the blink of an eye but could I stand there and watch as my child laid his life down for you? That....makes me think! That....makes me want to be more like Mary, more like Jesus, more like my heavenly Father! What are your thoughts?
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