stunned

This is the same idea that I posted on last year, you can go back and read that one, too, if you want to.

There have been times in my life when I had great expectations and ideas of how things would turn out.  Wonderful dreams and plans.  But in an unexpected instant those dreams, hopes and plans were dashed.  It was as if I felt the globe turn and suddenly North was South and down was up.  

Ever been there?  

I think that's how it was for Jesus' disciples.  Even those who recognized that He was the long awaited Messiah, didn't really understand what that meant, I think.  We are earthly minded beings and I think they all expected an earthly revolution.

But now, on this day, He lay dead in a borrowed tomb.  Some of them had seen Him die.  Some of them had helped carry the body and wrap it in cloth.  He was dead.  His skin was ashen, His nails and lips blue, His limbs stiffened.  No hope.  Gone.

So I picture them sitting in the empty room just staring.  No one knows what to say.  They had a plan and a purpose and... now what?  So much excitement and emotional build up - - for this?

"This isn't what I expected.  This isn't what I had in mind.  I never planned for this.  What do I do now?"

All they could see was yesterday and today.  No matter how strong their faith, I don't think any of them imagined tomorrow.  They saw dashed hopes and empty dreams.  They saw lost and confused faces gazing at one another.  They saw fear and pain.  They had all lost one they loved dearly.  They had all been betrayed by a trusted friend.

They had no idea that the revolution going on was for their souls.  No idea that the spiritual realm was undergoing a vast restructuring.  What had belonged to the devil was taken away.  Paid for, Redeemed.  What had been his most powerful weapon -- death-- was losing its power.  

Sometimes when we lose what we long for, it's because something unimagined is being given in its place.  Don't lose hope.  Look to tomorrow!

the pain

Jesus didn't want to experience the pain of this day.  Who can blame Him?  I know that His humanity dreaded the physical suffering to be endured.  

But His Deity dreaded taking my place.  He wanted to, don't get me wrong.  He did it willingly out of love we can never comprehend.  But He was perfect.  Sinless.  Spotless and pure.  And in order to take my place He had to bear my sin.  

All of the filth of everything I've ever done or even thought of doing.  Every bit of evil that came to me through my lineage of sin.  And the shame.  Shame that drives people to desperation at times.  He wore it.  He hung there on the cross, naked and exposed, arms spread wide.  No way to cover Himself.  No way to hide.  And it wasn't His skin that shamed Him.  It was my sin.  He hung there wearing it and all the shame and God looked at Him and was so disgusted He had to turn away.  Jesus was forsaken for me.  Forsaken by His own nature, even...for me.  

God cannot abide sin.  Can't tolerate it.  That's the whole point.  So Jesus was forsaken so that I could be embraced.  Because Jesus wore my garment of filth, I now wear His garment of Righteousness.  When God looks at the cross, He sees me.  When God looks at me, He sees Jesus!  

I don't think we will ever fully understand the sacrifice.  It wasn't just about beatings and thorns and nails.  Thousands of men have been crucified.  Thousands of men have died unjustly. But what made this sacrifice so great was the pain of Purity and Absolute Holiness dripping with the slime and sludge of sins He never committed.  The shame.

And you know what?  When we cling to that shame, when we just can't let ourselves off the hook for something, we are calling His sacrifice worthless.   We are saying that it wasn't enough.  Christ have mercy.