Easter Preamble

It is impossible to bypass the human drama when talking about Christ’s sacrifice, and we should not.

I remember when I was a kid, and I was invited by a friend of mine, who was Catholic, to watch “Jesus of Nazareth” movie right around Christmas time. I so clearly remember the scene of the crucifixion like it was yesterday. As I was watching the passion of Christ unveiling, I started hearing strange noises coming from the other side of the bed, where my friend was sitting. He started crying… By the time they put Jesus on the cross my friend was crying so vehemently that I was embarrassed. You see, I have seen that movie once or twice before, and I was very much used to hearing the same thing every other Sunday, so I thought I was excused to somehow be impressed by Christ suffering, but to my friend, the sheer pain and suffering of Christ shook him to tears.

Of course this was not Mel Gibson’s version, but I never understood why I was not the one crying, and my friend, who I did not regard as “’saved” did.

Vaguely and rarely we see Christ for all that He went through. The truth is that if we do not understand the tragedy, we will never fully comprehend the sacrifice.

It was love that held him on the cross. He loved us. God loved us enough to spare nothing. A piece of God was hanging on a cross… the heart of God was broken… the perfect sacrifice brought peace between us and God.

“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

Yes,

The cross teaches us what Christ’s love means: unselfish abandonment in the will of God.

Jesus lived his purpose on the earth to the extent that He obeyed his Father. We also live to the extent that we obey our heavenly Father.
What is love without commitment? Selfishness!
We see in Jesus' cross that He did not backed down when it was the hardest, nor did HE abandon us for an easier "cross". Our response should be accordingly.

We are “In Him” for the purpose of following Him not our own desires. Christ has conquered death so we can live in victory and has ascended into heaven to go and prepare a place for us. He is taking care of that, we should go about His business here.