The Ultimate Sacrifice
This week, this Holy week, has been so different that those in the past. But so has everything else this last month. Nothing is as it was, everything seems to be at a stand still as we wait for answers, we’re frightened, unsure, sad and I feel like we are all holding our breath waiting for ‘normal’ to happen again. Deep down we know that while our ‘normal’ lives will resume one day, nothing about them will be as they once were. And you know what? That’s okay. This, this ‘new normal’ has changed us, it’s still changing us…and I pray that when we come out on the other side we will remember how we felt and live our ‘normal lives’ differently than we were previously. I pray we are more tender with our family and friends, I pray that we make the effort to stay in touch with those in our lives that are far away from us, that we are more forgiving, that we laugh more, spend more quiet time with God, that we are more compassionate and more giving. Yeah, that would be a beautiful normal, wouldn’t it?
We’re all making sacrifices during this unsettling season. We are staying home, keeping away from others, some of us are working from home or sadly not working at all, others are still working exposing themselves to the unseen danger, some of us are homeschooling our children and some of us are just trying to put one foot in front of the other. Many of us are still out there, helping others, giving of their time and their possessions to help those who really need it. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in my post earlier this week, https://frontporchdevotionals.com/sing-through-the-fear/, there are people who are not sharing, who are not caring for those around them, who are giving in to fear and greed, anger and even hatred.
As I reflect on Holy week, I am saddened that we will not be celebrating today, Good Friday, or Easter Sunday, the way we usually do. I love Holy week. I love the meaning of each day during this week, I love being around my family and the church body, I especially love our family traditions. All of it makes me more aware of the sacrifice, the ultimate gift given to me…to all of us.
“Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said,’Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll – I have come to do your will, O God.”…And by that will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all…because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Hebrews 10:5-7, 10, 14 emphasis mine)
What we are experiencing right now was not our plan. We did not decide to stay in our homes, not go to work, unexpectedly have to help our children with on-line schooling, not visit family and friends on our own. These choices were made for us and we are following the rules/mandates set in place. Sure, they are inconvenient, unsettling and scary at times. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the way we are living right now. I will dare say, though, that what we are experiencing right now was nothing compared to the ultimate sacrifice Jesus paid for us…for each and every one of us!
While we sit at our homes concerned for our friends and family, possibly grumbling about the latest inconvenience handed down, Jesus had people crying out to crucify him (Matthew 27:20-23). While we are concerned for the safety of our families (and rightly so), Jesus freely suffered for us and offered up his body for us (Hebrews 7:27; 9:26).
His ultimate sacrifice was, and still is to this very day, our great gain! “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24 emphasis mine) He literally took our sins from us and took them to the cross! This brings me to my knees, this always tenders my heart. He paid the price for me…for you…for our children and our grandchildren, our family and friends! He willingly gave his life so that we may have eternal salvation!
I know we are living life from one moment to the next. I know a lot of our plans have been cancelled. I know some of us have loved one who are sick…some of us have lost those we love. I don’t have the answers for these confusing times. I can only point you to the one true answer…Jesus Christ died for you, for me!
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
“He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” (Romans 4:25)
Why? Why such a sacrifice from our God? He knew we needed His saving grace, His mercy and through Him, eternal salvation. He saved us from death,
“Death has been swallowed up in victory. ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)
I pray this Good Friday gives you pause. I pray that you take some quiet time to just be with God today. May He draw you closer to Him as you praise Him for His ultimate sacrifice. May the unconditional love He has for you flow through you to those in your life. May you pull your family close and remind them of God’s beautiful, perfect love.
“Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’. And they struck him in the face…As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify! Crucify!’…finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified…So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is galled Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others – one on each side and Jesus in the middle…Later, knowing that all was now completed and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said,
“It is finished.” (John 19: 1-3, 6, 16-18, 28-30)