"Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the 12 disciples aside and said to them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will turn Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day He will be raised to life!" -Matthew 20:17-19
I think this is one of the most important truths of the season of Lent and all of Christianity: Jesus could have said "no".
Jesus knew ahead of time what He was getting in to when He went to Jerusalem, heck, He knew what He was getting in to when He came to earth as a helpless baby. Jesus knew that He would "be mocked and flogged and crucified" and He could have said "no" simply by not going to Jerusalem. But He didn't.
Jesus chose the cross. He chose death. He chose His Father's will. He chose you.
How awesome is that! Jesus chose to uphold the will of His Father above all else. Jesus was thinking of His Father's will and you in these three verses.
To steal a line from Cassandra Pilcher, "You are to die for, just ask Jesus."
Think about Jesus' decision to sacrifice Himself for His Father's will and for you today.
Wednesday night after youth group, I was standing before our mime cross stating these very things to God...in complete amazement of what sacrifice He really had to give just to have us...to call us His Beloved.
ReplyDeleteWe will never fully fathom what sacrifice He really gave...no matter how much we try to make ourselves the victims of our own lives, we need to understand that Jesus honestly gave EVERYTHING to have us. This is more than amazing...it is how I would define love.