Thursday, March 28, 2013

Don't Turn Away

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:8)
 
As Christ-followers, Easter is the most significant time of the year for us.  On Sunday, we will celebrate in worship and around family tables the resurrection of our Lord.  Some of us will participate in fun-filled egg hunts and perhaps exchange pastel-colored candies.  All of this is appropriate: the triumph over the grave that Jesus secured for us calls for nothing less than utter jubilation.  But before we partake of the festivities of Easter Sunday, I challenge us to step into the sorrow of Good Friday.  The resurrection was not possible, nor can it fully be appreciated, without the slaughter of God’s Perfect Lamb.
 
Most of us would agree that our culture is inundated with violent images.  Deadly force, bloody gore, and torture have become pillars of mainstream entertainment.  For better or worse, we’ve learned to tolerate it.  We know that what we’re watching isn’t real.  We know they’re just actors and that bloody mess is ketchup, makeup or special effects.  We might get caught up in the adrenaline of the moment, but when the credits roll, we carry on with our day no differently than before.
 
The real thing is entirely different.  Ask a solider returning from war, or someone who has watched their loved one slowly wither away from the ravages of disease.  Over the years, I have counseled countless crime victims in hospital emergency departments.  One afternoon, I was called to the bedside of a woman who had been beaten so severely that only one of her eyes was unharmed.  The rest of her, from her hair to the soles of her feet, was saturated in blood.  She moaned in pain, unresponsive to any question or statement directed toward her.  When the doctor or nurse moved any part of her for any reason, her screams echoed off the walls.  Despite my training and experience, I was grossly unprepared for this moment.  Despite my compassion for her, it took every ounce of willpower in me not to bolt from that room and never return to any hospital, ever.  The terror from the sights, sounds and smells in that room is indescribable, but I stayed by her side.  How, then, can I turn away from the suffering of my Lord?
 
It doesn’t get more real than the crucifixion of our Lord.  The suffering that Jesus endured is so difficult for us to consider, and it’s even harder to watch portrayals of it such as in “The Passion of the Christ.”  It's so difficult because we know that our sins contributed to His suffering, and that God allowed His Son to be slaughtered in order to save us from eternal death.  Such a sacrifice demands our attention to it.  Such a sacrifice on our behalf demands that we not deny or run from the reality of it.  It’s okay that we cry, that we wince, that our stomachs are churned in disgust and horror.  It’s the reality of our sinfulness and the sacrifice made for our redemption.
 
Praise God, He is risen!  But before He rose, He was slaughtered.  Before He overcame the grave, He entered it in the most painful and humiliating way possible.  Let us reflect, meditate, and be fully present in the reality of Good Friday.  Let us not turn away.  Why?  Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us.

 

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