They offered him a mild painkiller (wine mixed with myrrh), but he wouldn't take it. (v. 23)In the middle of physical agony and deeply felt rejection, Jesus chose not to escape in any way. He did not remove Himself from the situation and He didn't numb Himself from the depth of the pain. He certainly could have. It was within His power, but He chose to "go there", to fully enter death and judgment for us.
In the midst of the hurts of my life, I often choose to anesthetize. I don't refuse the "mild painkiller" when it is offered. (For me, it's TV or a glass of wine.) Right now, I am experiencing that worn out feeling that comes from parenting pre-teen and teen girls and the push-and-pull of their emotions. I'm often fighting the desire to turn away from their unintentional rejection of my mothering. They're becoming independent - as they should be - but it comes with the side effect of pushing me away. They don't (and can't) understand all that I do for them behind-the-scenes that makes it possible for them to succeed at school, music, and their social lives. There's a certain sadness to this stage of parenting that can't begin to be compared to the rejection that Jesus felt from His own Father. Jesus knew that this - the most difficult part of His crucifixion - was coming and yet he still chose to remain completely aware, alive to all the pain.
Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, '... My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?' (v. 34)Father, Papa, how different am I from my own daughters? Exerting my independence. Not living in the awareness of all that You have done and are doing to make life possible in me. Thank You for going all the way with the rejection of Your Son and thank You that Jesus chose to fully enter the pain. For us.
"...this forsakenness, this loss, was between the Father and the Son, who had loved each other from all eternity. This love was infinitely long, absolutely perfect, and Jesus was losing it. Jesus was being cut out of the dance.
"Jesus, the Maker of the world, was being unmade. Why? Jesus was experiencing our judgment day. 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' It wasn't a rhetorical question. And the answer is: For you, for me, for us. Jesus was forsaken by God so that we would never have to be. The judgment that should have fallen on us fell instead on Jesus." (Tim Keller, King's Cross)
2 comments:
Thank you Staci for your comments. Very insightful and makes me really think about my relationships.
loved this reflection on Jesus going through with his death for us to TRULY absorb God's wrath completely, so encouraging as you women always are! thank you for being so faithful in your calling to this blog and us :)
"Let us not trifle with God or trivialize his love. We will never stand in awe of being loved by God until we reckon with the seriousness of our sin and the justice of his wrath against us. But when, by grace, we waken to our unworthiness, then we may look at the suffering and death of Christ and say, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the [wrath-absorbing] propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10)." -John Piper
Desiring to be more overwhelmed with this crazy love action that God took to save us. It was all HIS plan. just so amazing.
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/online-books/fifty-reasons-why-jesus-came-to-die
check this out! sooo good for this easter season for my heart.
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