Thank you Jesus

I finished reading the book of Matthew this morning. With it being Easter in a couple of weeks, reading Jesus’ death and resurrection story was timely. In my opinion the bible doesn’t do a great job of going into deep detail about the pain and misery that Jesus experienced while being beaten, tortured and crucified. Don’t get me wrong, it’s horrible and chilling, but the details are omitted. He gets arrested, beaten, crucified and then he rises and all is well. But after reading more detailed accounts and watching The Passion and seeing the indescribable pain that He went through, I have a whole new perspective. 

When you become a mother, you don’t really worry as much about what will happen to you, but more so what will or could happen to your children. And for a brief moment (because that’s all I could handle) I pictured Noah being crucified. As a baby. My son being tortured and hurt. Because, let’s face it, the people who would be doing the crucifying wouldn't care about how old you are. And it was enough to bring me to tears and cry out to God with gratitude. We’re God’s children. Jesus is God’s son. Though He was Jesus, He was in a mortal body and felt and lived just like any other man. Although He had a super human comprehension of Heaven and God, He didn’t have a super human ability to ignore pain. He didn't have the super human ability to keep from wanting to run when He was being captured. He was still human at the time. In fact, while He was being crucified He was so human that he accused God of forsaking him. Forgetting about him. Wondering why He was being punished the way that He was. “ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 You see, if Jesus had been crucified with the strength of God, it would have been meaningless. Anyone could be nailed to a cross and left to hang and die if they weren't affected by the pain. But not Jesus. He felt every punch, whip, thorn, and nail. He felt the weight of his body ripping through his skin and muscles. He felt the blood pouring from His body and He felt the thirst that couldn’t be quenched. While He was hanging on the cross He cried out to God begging for mercy, wondering why He wasn’t just dying already. 

EVEN JESUS QUESTIONED GOD. 

Now can we get through our heads just how remarkable the sacrifice was? Can we understand how blessed we are that we don’t have to physically hang from a tree and bleed out while in intense, agonizing pain?! Can we stop our egocentric lives for just a moment and focus on what we don’t have to do because of what He already did for us? What our children don’t have to do because of what He did for us.  It’s breathtaking. It’s indescribable. It makes me proud to be a Christian. I hope you are too