In today’s study we see another example – the most important example – of Jesus experiencing the same sorts of experiences that we go through. We can never say to God: “You can’t know what it was like to be human!”
He experienced the best and worst of what life on earth has to offer. He was born, in questionable circumstances, into a poor family. He life was at risk when young and his family became refugees. AS an adult, He had no home to call his own. He had few possessions. A very close friend died and Jesus cried, demonstrating the emotional pain he was suffering. He lamented over the fate of Jerusalem and its people – his country and his people. When he needed his friends they deserted him, one disowned him, another betrayed him – he died in the prime of his life. He died an innocent man, wrongly convicted of a crime - his death was a horrible, painful way to die. His mother and some friends watched him die – and he was aware of their gaze, and their grief.
So, what Selwyn writes today is worth your meditation: “Think of the cross. That is the supreme example (of bad turned into the greatest good). If God could transform what happened there. He can do the same anywhere. At the cross, He took the foulest thing that has ever occurred and made it into the most sublime. The crucifixion is the world’s worst sin; it is the world’s supreme hope. It is the very essence of evil; it is the highest expression of love. … If God can do that with the cross what might He not do with the evil that comes into our lives?”
Jesus bought us freedom by His death on the cross – we can live our lives with the knowledge that our loving God is in full control – we can accept that suffering and evil will occur in this fallen world – we can be confident that our suffering is part of the same story, in which, He suffered - and that He will return when the curtain falls on the last day of our suffering. Our faith in Him will fuel our perseverance; and, we may be broken but never beaten by evil. Do you believe this?
When sin recoiled
In today’s study we see another example – the most important example – of Jesus experiencing the same sorts of experiences that we go through. We can never say to God: “You can’t know what it was like to be human!”
He experienced the best and worst of what life on earth has to offer. He was born, in questionable circumstances, into a poor family. He life was at risk when young and his family became refugees. AS an adult, He had no home to call his own. He had few possessions. A very close friend died and Jesus cried, demonstrating the emotional pain he was suffering. He lamented over the fate of Jerusalem and its people – his country and his people. When he needed his friends they deserted him, one disowned him, another betrayed him – he died in the prime of his life. He died an innocent man, wrongly convicted of a crime - his death was a horrible, painful way to die. His mother and some friends watched him die – and he was aware of their gaze, and their grief.
So, what Selwyn writes today is worth your meditation: “Think of the cross. That is the supreme example (of bad turned into the greatest good). If God could transform what happened there. He can do the same anywhere. At the cross, He took the foulest thing that has ever occurred and made it into the most sublime. The crucifixion is the world’s worst sin; it is the world’s supreme hope. It is the very essence of evil; it is the highest expression of love. … If God can do that with the cross what might He not do with the evil that comes into our lives?”
Jesus bought us freedom by His death on the cross – we can live our lives with the knowledge that our loving God is in full control – we can accept that suffering and evil will occur in this fallen world – we can be confident that our suffering is part of the same story, in which, He suffered - and that He will return when the curtain falls on the last day of our suffering. Our faith in Him will fuel our perseverance; and, we may be broken but never beaten by evil. Do you believe this?