Christ Suffered for
Us
Ouch, quite the sunburn |
Jesus says nobody took his life, he lay it
down for us but what happened to him was evil, the men who condemned him and
crucified him were responsible for their actions. They were not some robots doing to Jesus what
God had planned for them to do yet Jesus told Pilate he had no power except
what was given him by God. This is one of the mysteries of God. He can use evil
to fulfill His purpose even though that evil is not His will or His doing. Christ suffering clarified my own suffering a
little more this Easter. I do not want to even pretend that our suffering came
close to Jesus suffering. Ours is only a bit of muscle pain compared to his, but let
me imagine what it was like for Jesus mother if I had been her and Jesus were
my son. I have seen his power to heal and do miracles. I have heard the incredible
wisdom he speaks with, his amazing character. I am thinking he will become a
great leader. More and more people are flocking to hear him. There is no one
like him. I imagine that he will bring about a revival like none other for Israel
if everyone listens to him and follows his lead.
But then, there I am at the cross with only a of few of his disciples
the rest are where? And I hear people say, “I’ve had it with this God. How
could he abandon the best man we have ever seen? I don’t see how God could
bring any good out of this.” What would
I say in that moment? I’d probably agree first I had watch them torture my son until he was almost dead and now I was watching him slowly die hanging on a cross, oh the excruciating pain that would cause a mother, and yet I am looking at the greatest,
most amazing thing God could ever do for the human race. In that moment justice and love are being
satisfied; evil, sin, and death are being defeated once and for all but because
I cannot fit it into my own limited understanding, I am in danger of walking away
from God. How could he make my son
suffer so?
Now let us reduce that experience to my experience or let us
compare it to Joseph rather. All the
suffering he faced only to save many lives later and be a great leader. The separation
of our sons is not good, its hard and we do not see any good in it. But what if
God looked twenty years ahead and saw something like Joseph as a great leader with influence standing before his
brothers saving his now large extended family. United and one nation. It never
would have happened without the suffering Joseph endured. Likewise that gun or that
helium would have had no power to kill unless it was given the power from
above but what we will see 20 years from now in our family or maybe even far more then our family will be different then what it would have been without this suffering and I'm believing that it will be beautiful. That does not make it right just like it did not make it right for the
people who sold Joseph or threw him in prison innocently.
I have to say I was arrogant enough that I believed God
would protect my children if I had faith and that I would see them grow up, I
thought “I was reading God right.” but after it happened I was humble enough to
realize that God was under no obligation to operate according to my limited
wisdom and I chose to trust God anyway therefore whether they lived on this
earth or not I would serve and believe God.
If you are new to this blog and wonder what happened to our boys you can find it in the post titled Our Story, on the web version it is featured on the right side of the screen.
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