'It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty... be killed, and after three days rise up alive. ' He said this simply and clearly so they couldn't miss it. (8:30-32)
It's not a nice idea, not one plan in many, not a possibility. It is a necessity.
"Jesus didn't say that the Son of Man would suffer; he said the Son of man must suffer.... Jesus must suffer, must be rejected, must be killed, must be resurrected.... 'The world can't be renewed, and nor can your life, unless I die.' Why would it be absolutely necessary for Jesus to die?" (Keller, King's Cross)
Peter is taken aback by this statement. He's appalled, confused, undone. Peter "grabbed [Jesus] in protest." How could Jesus be the Messiah that he'd learned about since his childhood, that would set up a kingdom and bring justice, if He came to die?
Jesus confronted Peter, '...You have no idea how God works.' (8:33)
How does God work exactly? Why couldn't He make another way? Why must it be so heinous, so degrading? I have no idea how God works. I cannot comprehend the kind of love that requires the sacrifice of my identity, my reputation, my dignity, myself.
"In the end we're all alike, groping for true love and incapable of fully giving it. What we need is someone to love us who doesn't need us at all. Someone who loves us radically, unconditionally, vulnerably. Someone who loves us just for our sake. If we received that kind of love, that would so assure us of our value, it would so fill us up, that maybe we could start to give love like that too. Who can give love with no need? Jesus. Remember the dance of the Trinity - the Father, the Son, and the Spirit have been knowing and loving one another perfectly for all eternity. Within himself, God has forever had all the love, all the fulfillment, and all the joy that he could possibly want. He has all the love within himself that the whole human race lacks. And the only way we're going to get any more is from him....
"Do you see how the security of Jesus's love enables [you] to need less, and to love more? True love, love without neediness, is generative; it is the only kind that makes more of itself as it goes along.
"Why did God create us and later redeem us at great cost even though he doesn't need us? He did it because he loves us. His love is perfect love, radically vulnerable love. And when you begin to get it, when you begin to experience it, the fakery and manipulativeness of your own love starts to wash away, and you've got the patience and security to reach out and start giving a truer love to other people." (Keller)
God is making me more and more aware of the hidden, glossed over motives behind my love. He's showing me how I give love wanting something back; how I protect myself instead of making myself vulnerable; how I look for people whose love will affirm me; how I invest my love in order to get a return. This is not true love, not sacrificial love, not loving like Jesus. Only He can create that in my heart.
3 comments:
Amen. I have no idea how to really love!
I think in many ways, I miss out on what kind of perfect love I have from Jesus. But I want to know and experience it more. I know there's a different kind of love that I'm looking over when I get easily bugged or annoyed or easily shaken up at or even with other people. I'm getting so tired of it.
I pray to be deeply rooted in His love for me. His love for His people, everything. in Him. So broken and so many cracks ready to be drowned in His love and grace today.
Mark 8:5 ~ What do you have to give? Give out of your brokenness, your emptiness, your poverty.
Mark 8:24 ~ The blind man was healed but all he could see was walking trees. I read this verse the day before I hit rock bottom a few years ago. It seemed all I could see was walking trees, no clear sight...UNTIL...God sent suffering my way that grabbed my attention, my heart, and changed me for good! For we all must answer 8:29 - so who are you saying that I Am?
hey Bev, just curious, what does that mean?
all you could see was walking trees? no clear sight?
also i just LOVE how 8:34-37 in the MSG stirs my heart in a different new way from also reading the ESV.
Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for? Mark 8:34-37 MSG
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever would save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37For what can a man give in return for his soul? ESV
both so powerful.
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