They bound the hands of Jesus in the garden where he prayed;
They led him through the streets in shame.
They spat upon the Savior so pure and free from sin;
They said "Crucify him; He's to blame."
The following verses continue this theme of suffering as the song poetically describes the shame of the cross. At the conclusion of each verse we remind ourselves that he could have called ten thousand angels to set him free, but instead, "He died alone for you and me."
Thinking about the faith journey that Jesus' walked made me a little emotional this morning. Pondering the fact that Jesus became a human, endured poverty, temptation, and injustice for the single purpose of reconciling sinful human beings with the High and Holy One should take my breath away more often than it does. But more than an emotional reaction, I know that what Jesus really wants is my faithful obedience. He has shown the way through voluntary submission to the will of the Father.
Watching him walk his faith journey teaches us how to walk ours. I specifically choose the song after the lesson to reinforce this message.
That's why we praise him, that's why we sing
That's why we offer him our everything.
That's why we bow down and worship this king,
'Cause he gave his everything, 'Cause he gave his everything
3 comments:
If Jesus was God, then he didn't really go through a faith journey, did he? If we can assume that he know what he was going through and why it needed to be done, then did it really require faith?
Could Jesus have doubted that what he was doing was God's plan? Is that possible? Or did he know for certain, and yet find it difficult because he was human?
One side makes him not very much God, having to HOPE that he hadn't just gotten the wrong idea about this. The other means he had no faith journey as he had first hand knowledge.
Thank you for your comments anonymous. There is another option. Listen to the sermon @ clearlakechurch.com
I still remember the moment when the fact that Jesus not only fully Divine but also fully human struck the cord of my heart.
It wasn’t that long ago and that’s surprising since I've been a member of COC since boyhood. Perhaps I never really thought of Jesus being human at all. But the moment God's spirit revealed this aspect of His Son to me it was emotionally troubling. In my eyes to be human means to be emotionally vulnerable. So was Jesus emotionally vulnerable? Was God vulnerable?
This idea was troubling for me because it sheds that old stone wall, that Jesus was ONLY divine and did not suffer as much as a human or did not take any sort of “faith journey” because He was faith. But what we really learn from the manger is that God did take on flesh through His Son and became vulnerable.
Why is this so troubling? Whenever I look into the nights sky and see all the millions of stars just within viewing distance of the naked eye and ponder how far away they really are from us, the reality of God’s Greatness is striking…even more so when we realize that He brought himself to our level. As Paul said, “Jesus made himself a servant by taking on flesh and submitting himself to death- even death on a cross…”
The fact that our Abba Father did all this for us brings tears to my eyes and transforms my soul…and I can only whisper, “thank you.”
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