The Suffering

Ah, Saturday! Whoo, tomorrow is Palm Sunday. Let the holidays begin! A week-long observance of Easter, or the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ, should not be too difficult for us to adjust to. Oh, yes, the old 'lost money' thing. Set aside the business head for a minute and think instead what we might gain from a week of prayer and fasting for Christ. Look at what He did for us. Do we owe Him any less? Actually, we could pray and fast all 365 days, scourge our bodies with whips, have others nail us to crosses, and we still would not come close to repaying Jesus for the sins of one person, much less repaying, if that were possible, what He did for us. Jesus accomplished His great sacrifice through love for us and obedience to God the Father. We cannot come close through attempting to repay debt what was done in love. In our surrender to Christ, we accept with tears the suffering He endured on our behalf. To scourge my body would not in any way lessen the stripes with which we are healed. For you to spend one moment on the cross would not in the least reduce what Jesus endured to cleanse us from sin.

If a friend is suffering with a broken arm, I cannot ease his suffering by having the doctor break my arm too. My friend will accept my sympathy and comfort, but the worse his suffering the less he wants me to be in the same circumstance. Turn it around and imagine a friend offering the same for you. Would you not make every effort to club him a good one with your cast if necessary to bring him to his senses? The sacrifice for sin was accomplished by the only one who could make atonement for all. You and I can repeat the actions, but we cannot accomplish the mission that belonged to Jesus alone. The mission Jesus gave to all those who believe was to take the message of the Christ to all lands and peoples. We repeat the crucifixion through words by telling the good news of what it accomplished. The word of grace spreads from person to person in the love of Christ. We don't have a job; we have a mission. We don't have to repeat the crucifixion; we are called to tell of the Cross. And we do not have to wait for tomorrow either. Today is a perfectly good day to begin telling of what Jesus has done for me.

Have a wonderful Saturday,
Bucky