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Jesus in our place...


As we come to the middle of Holy Week (week before Easter starting on Palm Sunday), I find myself doing what I typically do--become consumed with reading the Gospels, specifically The Last Supper, Jesus' arrest, crucifixion, death, and resurrection. I will even try to find shows and documentaries that tell the story of these events to help "get my mind right" for the weekend ahead. This year I have had one song on repeat that we have sung many times in church,"How Deep the Father's Love for Us." If you haven't heard the song, check it out.

As a musician it's easy for me to get wrapped up in a song based on its catchy melody, intricate instrumentation, or the emotional response it gives me while listening to it that I often fail to reflect on the lyrics of the song. This is especially true for this song. I want to touch on a few of the lines that, when I dug a little deeper, helped to magnify even more the love our Father has for us...

"How great the pain of searing loss, The Father turns His face away..."

When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane the night of his arrest, he told some of his disciples that he was crushed with grief almost to the point of death as he knew what was about to come (Matthew 26:38). He went off by himself to pray to the Father saying, "If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine (v39)" The cup being the wrath of God that was meant for US. What this passage shows us here is that Jesus being human (John 1:14), felt real human emotions of anguish, grief, and distress as he prayed asking if there could be any other way to save the sinners of the world. What Jesus felt in that moment was the total abandonment of the Father. He stared hell in the face as he took on the weight and sins of the world and STILL surrendered to the Father's will. It wasn't the image of being beaten and hung to die on a cross that grieved him, it was that moment of separation from God on our behalf because of our sins placed on him.

"Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders. Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers..."

After being beaten, flogged and nailed to the cross, Jesus hung there humiliated in front of the crowds. They passed by shouting at him and mocking him (Matt 27:39). The priests, teachers and elders all ridiculed him by saying that if he truly was the Son of God, he could easily save himself. But just as they mocked him as he was on the cross I think of all the times in my life that I have doubted him or thought my ways were superior. We are no better than the ones who slandered him, scoffed him, and mocked him (Romans 3:9-18). Every time we speak badly of our neighbor, hold grudges, lie or steal we are mocking who Jesus is and what he did not just for us, but instead of us. We completely take away the value of Jesus' shed blood to purchase our freedom and forgiveness of sins. Jesus was humiliated, punished, accused, condemned, and killed in our place.

"I will not boast in anything. No gifts, no power, no wisdom. But I will boast in Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection..."

When we look at the cross, we shouldn't think "I am so glad that Jesus died for me so that I can live the way that I want to live" No. The cross demands a response from us. God did not send his son to bear every penalty we deserve and nail him to a cross to die so that we can sit back unmoved by the events that took place for our redemption. Jesus endured every ounce of pain and suffering so that the display of God's love for us would not be cheapened or lessened in any way. And our response? To worship Him, to joyfully praise Him, to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to surrender our lives fully to Him. To go out and tell people about the Good News and how we are invited to a right relationship with God through his son Jesus. We are called to respond humbly by denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Jesus, our hope and only way of salvation (Matt 16:24)

As we approach Easter Sunday and celebrate our Risen King, let us also celebrate our new life with Christ. His victory is now our victory! We have been given the freedom of righteous living in obedience to God so that we will become Holy people. All because of Jesus in our place...

But this I know with all my heart, his wounds have paid my ransom.”

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