His Choice
The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to pick it back up again. This command I received from my Father. John 10:17-18
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
According to the liturgical church calendar it is Lent. For the next few weeks many Christians will give much thought to the sacrifice of Jesus. I’m fairly certain that I am not alone when I say those passages, the ones about Jesus torture and death are so hard to read. Without them I have nothing. I am grateful beyond words to Jesus. The words from John 15:5 are so real to me, apart from Jesus I can do nothing; I am nothing. Yet, there are those who argue that Jesus just did what he had to do. Well, read John 10:17-18 again. He did not have to do anything, at any point Jesus could have said, enough is enough. Looking at all of us, at humanity at our inhumanity to each other, our lack of regard for our Father and his ways, wouldn’t it have made sense? Instead of forgiveness and mercy, instead of pleading on our behalf wouldn’t it have more human sense if Jesus had simply said, “Abba, are you kidding? This crowd? Give my life for these fools? No, thanks!” But he didn’t. He chose, chose, to go willingly to the Cross, to torture and humiliation, to death for us.
Every year during Lent, during Holy Week, at Easter I am taking by the fact that this was a young man. My oldest son turned 30 this year. That is just three years shy of Jesus’ age at the time of his death. Paul has friends who are a bit older. To me, they’re all the same age. My friend Charlene is actually two years younger than I but we both say, “our age.” When I was a child thirty-three was an adult. When I was thirty-three it really hit home, or so I thought. Now I see it as my son’s age and in my top two worst nightmares are that anything would hurt Paul. To have to see him suffer disrespect, total humiliation, torture, betrayal and death, that I cannot even begin to imagine.
There is the argument that Jesus was God and man. True, but it was his human body, his human emotions that bore the pain and degradation. There is a Third Day song about the crucifixion that includes the words, “so I carry my Cross, and I carry the shame.” His Cross, our shame. That’s the hardest part of all. This young, young man, willingly took on the worst death imaginable not because somewhere in his heart he knew he had it coming but because he knew we did.
We tend to see the crucifixion as Jesus destiny and it was but we forget that he could have said no. As fully human, Jesus, like the rest of us, could have said, “no, I thought it over, talked to my Bible study group, weighed, measured and frankly Abba, they just aren’t worth it.” He didn’t. He pleaded to his Abba to find another way and when none was offered, when no ram was substituted for his body, he picked up his cross and went to his death. Yes, he knew the end result would not be a grave but I know that too and I still hate the idea of the journey to the other side. Death is not the problem. The destination, home, is wonderful and Jesus knew that better than any of us, but there is the passage between here and there and any way you look at it that is scary.
When we think of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we need to be sure to remember that it was his choice. When it came to his life or ours he chose ours. We can never be grateful enough but we can be as grateful as humanly possible.
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
According to the liturgical church calendar it is Lent. For the next few weeks many Christians will give much thought to the sacrifice of Jesus. I’m fairly certain that I am not alone when I say those passages, the ones about Jesus torture and death are so hard to read. Without them I have nothing. I am grateful beyond words to Jesus. The words from John 15:5 are so real to me, apart from Jesus I can do nothing; I am nothing. Yet, there are those who argue that Jesus just did what he had to do. Well, read John 10:17-18 again. He did not have to do anything, at any point Jesus could have said, enough is enough. Looking at all of us, at humanity at our inhumanity to each other, our lack of regard for our Father and his ways, wouldn’t it have made sense? Instead of forgiveness and mercy, instead of pleading on our behalf wouldn’t it have more human sense if Jesus had simply said, “Abba, are you kidding? This crowd? Give my life for these fools? No, thanks!” But he didn’t. He chose, chose, to go willingly to the Cross, to torture and humiliation, to death for us.
Every year during Lent, during Holy Week, at Easter I am taking by the fact that this was a young man. My oldest son turned 30 this year. That is just three years shy of Jesus’ age at the time of his death. Paul has friends who are a bit older. To me, they’re all the same age. My friend Charlene is actually two years younger than I but we both say, “our age.” When I was a child thirty-three was an adult. When I was thirty-three it really hit home, or so I thought. Now I see it as my son’s age and in my top two worst nightmares are that anything would hurt Paul. To have to see him suffer disrespect, total humiliation, torture, betrayal and death, that I cannot even begin to imagine.
There is the argument that Jesus was God and man. True, but it was his human body, his human emotions that bore the pain and degradation. There is a Third Day song about the crucifixion that includes the words, “so I carry my Cross, and I carry the shame.” His Cross, our shame. That’s the hardest part of all. This young, young man, willingly took on the worst death imaginable not because somewhere in his heart he knew he had it coming but because he knew we did.
We tend to see the crucifixion as Jesus destiny and it was but we forget that he could have said no. As fully human, Jesus, like the rest of us, could have said, “no, I thought it over, talked to my Bible study group, weighed, measured and frankly Abba, they just aren’t worth it.” He didn’t. He pleaded to his Abba to find another way and when none was offered, when no ram was substituted for his body, he picked up his cross and went to his death. Yes, he knew the end result would not be a grave but I know that too and I still hate the idea of the journey to the other side. Death is not the problem. The destination, home, is wonderful and Jesus knew that better than any of us, but there is the passage between here and there and any way you look at it that is scary.
When we think of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we need to be sure to remember that it was his choice. When it came to his life or ours he chose ours. We can never be grateful enough but we can be as grateful as humanly possible.
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