Wow! We made it through the first book of the New Testament in just ten days. Congrats! The reading today was a little tough. The crucifixion is difficult to take for me since it was my sin that put Jesus there in the first place. He took my place.
Certainly one of the worst things about the cross was the rejection Jesus experienced from His own Father as Lalo pointed out yesterday. Jesus was rejected by many other people too though. How about Pilate's rejection by refusing to deal with the matter. He feared man more than God. There was the hosanna crowd that rejected Him by choosing Barabbas. There are others as well. Look at Matthew 27:41-44.
In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
The mockers while Jesus bleed drops of life saving blood are horrific. They looked defiantly at a defenseless man and hurled insult after insult at Him. I know Jesus could have fought back and that makes Him even more vulnerable. He couldn't fight back because He loves us so much that He had to just painfully take it. He stayed on the cross to save me... and you!
That fact makes me even more ashamed that at times I don't trust Him. Sure, I can point to this and that to show my "great" faith. However, there are time, which happen far too often, where I worry about things. Things that have no eternal significance. Things that turn out to be nothing, which I've built up in my mind as earth shaking.
Listen... We have to live out our lives by faith. It's faith that saved us. It's faith that makes our lives pleasing to God. Search the word "faith" in the book of Matthew and take note of what you find. You will see Jesus doing great things when people live by faith. It's amazing how quickly we forget to trust Him. Seriously, I'm just as bad as those people that mocked Jesus while He was on the cross.
Leave a comment.
Good point Noah.
ReplyDeleteWe are just as bad as those who crucified Christ.. In fact if I were the only person on earth, He would still die for me and I would be the one to nail him to the cross.