Good Friday '09

So, I was sitting in the Wendy's in Jester today and trying to comprehend why a person would ever withstand being tortured to death for something they created. I don't think there's a paper I could write, song I could sing, or video I could produce that I'd die for. But, I guess media is a little shallow anyway. The closest thing to a human that I could create, provided I had the knowhow and mental competence to do so, would be a robot. Even then though, even if this robot could bring a great service to the world or something, I still would never be willing to be tortured and brutally murdered to spare its being destroyed. However, even though I don't have kids, I know without thinking that I'd die for them if I did.

There's a disconnect between created things and humans. Something about our humanity makes altruism possible and elevates our status to rulers over creation. I think it's the soul. I honestly have incredibly little figured out about the soul. But, in the simplest terms, I believe the soul is our provision for similarity and potential intimacy with God. So, when God was chatting with Jesus on the very first Friday about what to cool thing to make next, He said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." [Genesis 1:26]

It had never occurred to me before just how big of a deal that was. If Jesus was willing to die for us, then He must have thought our being able to live fully and become intimate with Him was more important than His continued living. That just blows me away. I can't really grasp what that means, but the Spirit is on me right now, and I feel the statements truth.

In Colossians 1:15-17 says this: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

So, it's Jesus' job forever to hold creation together with mind. There He was in Gethsemane weeping and sweating blood from the intense stress of the weight of the world on HIm; there He was battling with an intense inner struggle and holding everything together.

There He was, held down, the whip biting into HIs flesh and shooting fiery pain through His spine into His brain; there He was hurting more than He'd ever hurt before and holding everything together.

With a thought He could've done away with the whole of creation. That sends shivers through me. Jesus, in whom all authority lies, could have, with no effort at all, just stopped holding everything together. I always think about planets exploding when I write or say that...

Back to Jesus: there He was being hoisted onto the cross, blood loss making Him dizzy and fatigued; there He was with nails in His hands and feet holding it all together. At any point, He could've called more than twelve legions of angels to take care of Him [Matt. 26:53]. He could've just stopped caring, stopped holding it all together. But He didn't.

Why? Why did He go through with something so horrible?

He did it for love. Jesus is in love with us. He died so that we'd all have the chance to truly live. Then He rose again and put death in its place, because He's in love with us. Even though we all act like idiots most of the time, there's something inside each of us that Jesus finds attractive. That makes me smile.

Now, I want you, Reader, to take a minute or two to sit still and try to realize how in love with you Jesus is. Minimize this window. Stop instant messaging or worrying about the stuff you need to get done and just BE for a minute.

I guess Easter is sort of like Valentine's day. It's a celebration of the most devastatingly beautiful act of love ever to be performed. Jesus must be a hopeless romantic.

I hadn't initially planned on writing something so directly applicable to the coming Easter celebration, but it doesn't surprise me how this note has turned out. I usually start writing one thing, then remember some scriptures that agree, then end up writing something else that I hadn't previously thought of. As one of Christ's disciples, all spiritual gifts are accessible to me, and prophecy seems to come out in my writing. I don't really know who I'm writing this for, but I'm sure there's someone who really needed to read this. If you're that reader, don't ignore that you were just thinking about something like this. It's time for you to start doing whatever it is that you have been too afraid to do for a while.

Happy Easter!