Devotional
As we have learned on our journey through Lent, Jesus was a most humble man and perfect servant of God. As I said before, those who were filled with pride did not recognize the Messiah when they saw Him. Those same people who did not know Jesus, worked hard to destroy Him.
On that first Good Friday, some 2,000 years ago, Jesus was accused of a crime He did not commit and sentenced to death. Jesus knew that this would happen all along because He is the son of God and knows everything that will happen. But although He is the Son of God, He still came to Earth as a man and experienced everything like we as humans do. Every joy and every pain, Jesus could feel it all.
On the night Jesus was betrayed, He had gone to the garden to pray. But for Jesus, praying was what it is like for you to talk to your parents, since Jesus was God's son. Jesus was questioning His Father, God. Jesus was asking to be spared from what He knew was about to happen. This shows us His humanity, what made Him like us.
So when Jesus was put on trial before the crowd, He was insulted and ridiculed. He was badly hurt by the Roman guards that held Him in chains. Jesus was made to carry His own cross up the side of a mountain. And all the way people spit on Him, threw things at Him and teased Him. When Jesus was nailed to the cross and in terrible pain, He said, "Father forgive them, they do not understand what they are doing."
As Jesus was in anguish, He asked God to forgive the very people who were hurting Him.
While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. That was His choice.
As humans, we all have the freedom to choose. Now you may think that's not true, that you have to do what your parents tell you. The truth is that you get to choose whether or not you are going to obey your parents. Jesus also had this choice. He could have chosen to disobey His Father. He had done nothing wrong, and nobody would have blamed Him from running away from such a terrible fate. Jesus chose the path His Father set before Him.
Imagine for a moment with me, if Jesus had chosen differently. What would that mean for the rest of us?
Jesus dying for us was the greatest act of love the world will ever know. It is a love story to trump all others. The perfect Son of God came to Earth to live and experience the world as a human. Making every perfect choice as God has commanded. He never sinned or did anything wrong His whole life. He chose to die a scary death for all the other imperfect humans. When Jesus made this choice, He paid the price for all of us. Without this act of love, we would never get to live forever with God, in Heaven.
