It’s Easter, and I’m thinking real deep. As it is the Easter season, I have been thinking about things deepish for the last week or so. What else do people think and blog about this time of year? But really, it shouldn’t just be now, but always! (We’ll work on that.)
One. “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Last week, I watched “Passion of St. Mark” put on by my college incorporating theater, the choir, and faculty instrumentalists. The people who wrote it are professors. They did an astounding job. But during it, that phrase, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” was brought up in thought of tragedies that have happened on earth in history. Honestly, I don’t think anybody has the right to ask why God forsake them except Jesus, when he was on that cross. I know bad things happen, and God can seem far away, but he is always there, no matter how hard that is to believe sometimes. He has his reasons and his own purpose that we may not understand, but that’s okay. Now, I know when somebody goes through a tragedy, they may not find it so easy to come to the conclusion that God had a plan in it. Look.
Two. As my cousin Phil summed up Good Friday: “Jesus died, then shit got pretty real.” Do you realize how real? The instant Jesus died:
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and[e] went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27)
I hadn’t really paid attention to this before. I don’t know if I had actually read it myself. Yeah, shit got real! Was there any longer doubt that he was the Son of God? 100% man AND 100% divine. There is NO ONE greater. Seriously! Grace was unleashed as Jesus took the punishment of all OUR sins—past, present, and future! In.Awe.
Three. “Jesus rose– shit got even more real.” Um, yes. The Holy Spirit had been unleashed and now he can dwell in each of us who accepts this divine gift of grace and salvation. God hates sin, and that’s a pretty big deal. He can’t look at it. But Jesus took it all. So even though we sin and it hinders our relationship with God when it’s there, we can simply acknowledge and thank Christ, that God will still look at us! It’s amazing. HE is amazing. This living God who lives inside us is at work all the time.
We’re to accept and appreciate that gift. How could we not? Pastor Phill Tague mentioned in his sermon at The Ransom Church on Psalm Sunday that before we accept help, we have to admit we need it, and that is not always easy. And how else do we appreciate it but praise the one who gave us the grace? I’ll admit, I was just looking for seven more words for a conclusion, and “appreciate” is what I came up with. The verb is inadequate.
How do you “appreciate” the mind-blowing grace and love shown at the cross?
Just things to think about, I guess.
Anna
Anna E. Meyer 
I just watched the passion of the Christ for the first time this evening. Although the physical pain is hard to watch, the movie really brought out the beautiful display of God’s love that happened on the cross. Your thoughts got me thinking about how real the death and resurrection of Jesus was. Until more recently, I have honestly not treated or internalized that these events were real and seen by many. The cross has shown me more and more how much God cannot stand sin. As you put, only Jesus has the right to say, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus bore all the sins of the world and His own Father being Holy, separated himself from Jesus (after an eternity of being together) because of the sin that Jesus had taken. Thank you Jesus for becoming separated from the Father in my place, for paying the price of death for my sins, for taking the wrath of God instead of me, and for being the perfect lamb for my cleansing from all my sins. I’m sure there is more that you, Jesus, have done for me through the cross and I thank you for that too. Amen.
As you, Anna, said, “In Awe.”
I am so glad to hear that God has been showing you the realness of the cross. The cross is to grow bigger during our Christian walk as we learn more and more about its power! Sometimes, that takes a little more than it should, but that’s okay, I think. In awe, yes. 🙂