Good Friday is a very somber day for me. I'm reminded of the sacrifice God asked Jesus to make when He came down to earth - to die for all of us sinners. My sin was included. In previous years I attended our church service. In recent years I watched "Passion of the Christ." Today I went and saw "Son of God." No matter how his ministry years are told, how the last days of Jesus' life are told or how his death on the cross is told, I am moved to tears. I cry because of my sin, I cry that He had to die for my sin, I cry that He endured so much physical pain for my sin and I cry when He declares, "It is finished." His pain and suffering become my pain and suffering. Why? Because I love him and there's no way I can repay Him for all He's done for me.
I went to see "Son of God" with another believer. I told her about a struggle I had during one scene in the movie or really, a struggle in the true story. There's a scene after which Jesus has been scourged quite badly and is told to pick up his cross and carry it quite far, up a steep hill where he will be crucified between two thieves. You can see him struggle and yet they beat him some more. When the soldiers recognize He is unable to continue on carrying His cross by Himself, they pull an onlooker from the crowd and make this man help carry Jesus' cross. He addresses Jesus as, "My Lord."
We know nothing about this man. We can guess he is a believer by what he says and by the way he looks into Jesus' eyes - with compassion. I felt better knowing this man knew my Savior.
As I watched Jesus and this man carry Jesus' cross, I wanted so badly to ease Jesus' burden. You see Jesus kept falling down from it's weight and his utter exhaustion. The man held up the cross while Jesus would be whipped again then fight His way to a standing position to carry the cross. This repeated itself several times.
I wanted to scream out, "MAN!! Tell Jesus, "Lord, I'll hang onto the cross. You hang onto me."
It seemed like the right thing to do. To ease Jesus' burden...to make His pain a little less. But then I remembered. His coming here was not for us to ease His pain. It was for Him to ease our pain. Let me say that again.
Jesus coming down to earth to die for our sin was not for us to ease His pain.
Jesus coming down to earth to die for our sin was for Him to ease our pain.
How many times do I do things to ease someone else's pain when they need to go through it in order to grow closer to God?
Thankfully, it's rarely nowadays.
Jesus' love for all of us hung on that cross and died a painful death.
Am I living a life that honors the sacrifice He made?
