Saturday, March 30, 2024
Jesus and the children, Stained Glass, Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee
Taken during Doors Open Milwaukee
Friday, March 29, 2024
Snapshots of Faith: "You Are So Not Worth It."
“You’re so not worth it.”
Several years ago, there was a movie about a gal from a big Greek family who fell in love with a non-Greek guy much to the dismay of her dad. Her dad insisted that the young man be baptized in their church before they two lovebirds could be married. While watching the love of her life go through this, she mentioned to her brother that at any minute her fiancé would look at her and say, “you are so not worth it.” Of course, he didn’t feel this way and was willing to do this to out of his love for her.
Her line came to mind during the Good Friday service this evening. Jesus, God’s only Son, His perfect Son, willingly went to the cross for us—for every single person. The process of His torture and death was horrific. Long before He rode into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey, He knew exactly what He was in for. He was fulling aware of the cost that He was going to pay. Jesus did pray fervently for His Father to take away what was about to happen to Him. But it wasn’t taken away. Jesus suffered. Jesus was beaten, flogged, spit on, mocked, bullied, and had a crown of sharp thorns pushed onto His head. Then after all of that, they put Jesus on a wooden cross and pounded spikes into His hands and feet.
While Jesus was on the cross, Roman soldiers decided to gamble for his clothing. And I’m sure in addition to Mary, the disciple John and a few other followers, there were probably people who were in the crowd calling for His crucifixion.
He was in tremendous pain. He was innocent. He was being punished and He did not deserve it. But out of His love and His Father’s love for all of us, He endured the cross.
At any point, He could have looked down from the cross and said, “You are SO NOT worth it!” And then He could have called an army of angels to destroy the ones who put Him on the cross and ascend to Heaven and say we are all on our own to try and reconcile ourselves to God.
But He didn’t. Instead, just the opposite. He said YOU are WORTH it! YOU are worthy of My love! No matter how bad or how good we may think we are. We really were not worth Him sacrificing His life for. However, He did! He did it for every person that has, currently is and will walk the face of this earth. That includes the soldiers who hammered the nails into Him. It includes the members of the crowd who called for His death. It includes the murderer currently on death row and the little old lady who goes to church every Sunday morning. The teen trying to figure out life, the retiree traveling the world, the housewife, the husband working hard—you get the picture. He died because we are unworthy of a holy God, but we are worthy of His love!
I am so thankful for Jesus’ love and sacrifice. My heart’s desire is that everyone I know understands Christ’s love and has accepted His free gift of salvation which makes us unworthy humans worthy. He died because He thought we were worth it. (But spoiler alert: He didn’t stay dead! He is alive!!)
Saturday, March 9, 2024
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