Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. -Psalm 53:4-6 (NKJV)
I did not write about this earlier. I guess I thought that some would think it was about me, and that certainly is not my intention. What goes on in my life is all about Him–about my Lord and Savior. It’s about how he suffered for me; took my sins on his back in order to heal me, and NOT just heal me, but REVIVE me. My Savior brought me from the death to life.
The last week of March was the Passion Week–the week before Easter Sunday. We reflected on how Jesus made that triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a colt of a donkey with throngs lining the streets throwing coats and palm branches to honor Him and shouting, “Hosanna” (Save us!).
And from that hero’s welcome, everything appeared to go downhill. First, there was Gethsemene where even his closest disciples (those whose goal was to be like Jesus) could not obey a simple order to stay awake and pray. How often have I failed my Savior when He has asked me to do the simplest of things?
Then, the incarceration and the beatings and the mock trials and more beatings followed by the public humiliation and the physical suffering of carrying the cross that He would be hanged on down the Via de la Rosa and on to Calvary. And finally, being nailed to the cross, having to fight gravity and his own body weight to breathe. Jesus suffered for my sins and for the sins of the elect. What manner of love is this?
The last week of March, as God was providing a tiny miracle at Hansel Honda where we were selling more cars in the final eight days of the month than we had sold in the first 23 days, I was going through what I could easily describe as the worst episode of gout that I have experienced since 2004. I had pain and swelling in my elbows and pain in my knees and pain in my ankle and foot and toes. I was sleeping less than 4 hours a night because of the pain. And yet, what stood out to me as I prayed for God to take away this cup was how my pain was so miniscule, so microscopic compared to the pain He endured for me.
One more thought that just came to me: Jesus endured all of that pain without complaining, without crying out in anguish, without moaning and groaning as I am so prone to do. And then He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Did He cry out because of the pain and the suffering? No! He cried out because at the moment that our sin was placed upon this pure and holy and unblemished lamb, God the Father, who can have nothing to do with sin turned away from Him. The Father and the Son were separated for the first time. At that moment, all of the fury of God’s wrath was unleashed on our dying Savior, the suffering Servant. But, I contend that it was that separation from the Father that caused Jesus to cry out in anguish and despair.
Do we cry out in anguish when our sin separates us from God? Does our guilt; our pain; our anguish bring us to repentance and cause us to run back into the arms of God?
Have you considered what Jesus did for you, my friend? Have you repented of your sin; your lawlessness; your offenses against God and placed your faith in the finished work of Christ for your forgiveness and salvation?
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