Faith Through the Journey

Today we remember a pivotal night in the history of mankind. This was the night Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples, followed by His agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and betrayal by Judas Iscariot. This was a night that had been ordained from the time of Adam and Eve’s original sin of disobedience to God. In Genesis 3, the first mention of God’s plan for the forgiveness of sin and promise of eternal heavenly life was made, even as God was pronouncing the sentence of physical death on all creation because of sin. Genesis 3:15 is God’s prediction of Satan’s demise, when He says “He (Jesus) will crush your (Satan) head, and you will strike His heel”. Satan would land some blows, but Jesus would eventually deliver the “knock out punch”. Unfortunately, the way that would happen would be the suffering of the cross, which would ultimately be followed by the triumph of Jesus’ resurrection.

Even though Jesus knew the plan of salvation for makind would unfold in that way, He was, on that difficult night, still fully human. What one of us would NOT be dreading what was ahead, if we knew what lay ahead? The nights before I have faced major surgeries have not been easy ones, because I knew what would be happening and that I would be in pain when I woke up. That kind of pain pales, however, in comparison to that which Jesus faced. He had no anesthesia, no caring medical personnel to help Him through the long, painful day before He finally dismissed His Spirit and died.

As Jesus went through the Passover meal, He had a few hours left to finish the teaching of His disciples so that they would know what He wanted them to tell others. After that time with them and the departure of Judas Iscariot to deliver Jesus to the Jewish leaders, Jesus went to pray to His Heavenly Father. During those hours, He prayed for Himself, for His disciples, and for all of us who would eventually believe in Him because of the teachings He entrusted to His disciples. He also prayed, perhaps one last time, that if there was ANY OTHER WAY to accomplish the forgiveness of man’s sins and the hope of heaven, that He might be delivered from the sentence now hanging heavily upon Him. So why, if He was indeed God, was He asking for this now? Didn’t He know what the plan was, had been from the first sin, and predicted throughout Scripture? Of course He knew! I think, and other Biblical scholars concur(!) that this showed that He was fully human and understood the full weight of what He was about to go through. He would not only suffer more physical pain than He could possibly imagine, but at the moment when He became sin for us and took all of mankind’s sin upon Himself, His Father would have to turn away from Him and He would be completely alone. The pain of that would be worse than any physical suffering. Separation from His Father would cause Him to cry out from the cross, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”

Yes, as Jesus contemplated His final hours on the earth as the Son of Man, He certainly had much to fear and dread. He knew this was why He had come to earth as a human being, and what would await Him as He completed the earthly portion of His “mission”. But it’s also important for us to remember that during that time, Jesus was also thinking of us. WE were on His mind as He prayed for His Father’s strength to get through these most difficult hours. Thinking of Jesus’ suffering  brings me an overwhelming sense of gratitude and unworthiness that He would go through the painful death He died so that I could have forgiveness and eternal life in heaven. I am certainly NOT worthy in my own eyes! But in that truth lies the miracle God performed through the death of His Son. NONE OF US is worthy in our humanness, but in God’s eyes and through the filter of Jesus’ blood, HE sees us as worthy. Jesus Himself also believed that we were worthy of His efforts on the cross. Hebrews 12:2 says: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  The miracle of the cross is that Jesus loved us enough to through it to bring us into a personal relationship with Him.