Friday, we remembered one of the most, if not the greatest, bittersweet day in all of history. Bitter in the sense that Jesus suffered and died, sweet because we are now free from our sins. Through out the day I had been trying to wrap my mind and heart around what to feel. Thankfulness? Sorrow? Something in between? Both?
A thought that I kept thinking was, "Jesus, I am so sorry."
Sorry that He had to die for us. That we sin, and that He loves us so much to die for us, to be forgiven. I love Jesus very much, I wouldn't want Him to die and that is why I feel sorry in this sense.
Sorry that every single person turned their back on Him, even His own Father. I don't like be rejected, unaccepted, or feeling unloved just by a few people. But Jesus had every single person refuse to even associate with Him. Peter denied Him, people who knew Him stood at a distance when He was crucified. People mocked Him, spit on Him, and beat Him. God the Father even turned away from His own Son. He was 100% alone.
Sorry for all of the things He must have been feeling leading up to it and during. Aside from massive pain, the stress, loneliness, anxiety, fear, sadness, and on and on. I don't like dealing with just one of those things at a time, but having all of that weighing Him down at the same time? That's crazy!
All of this happened at the same time within one week. That Jesus felt all these things, suffered great pain, and took the weight of every sin of this broken world.
When we get down to it, we all deserve to die the death that Jesus did. As one of the criminals hanging with Him said, "Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn't done anything wrong.” (Luke 23:40-41)
I am so thankful that Jesus did die for us so that we may some day follow Him to Heaven, but it also makes me wonder... When Jesus says 'follow me,' is He asking us to also follow Him into suffering as well? If so, what is our response to that suffering? Complaining or anger? Or to receive His strength to go through that suffering and give Him praise?
Think about it...comment, share your thoughts, etc.
Peace
