"But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us." - Romans 5:8 (ERV)
In the P40 Ministries podcast, I have recently been discussing Jesus's death. In all honesty, I expected this to be an easy topic to discuss (sad, but easy.) Mainly because this topic was something I understood backwards and forwards. Since I had grown up in the church, I have been learning about Jesus's death since I was a kid in Sunday school. I understood it. I knew it. It should have been easy in my book.
Wow, was I wrong!
I never expected that this portion of Scripture would be the hardest I have had to talk about yet. (I expected Leviticus to be the hardest.) This journey through the book of Matthew has been quite a difficult one for me. I feel unqualified at times. I am unable to quite form into words everything Jesus experienced on the cross. The hours of suffering and torture He willingly went through... He could have easily performed a miracle and gotten Himself out of that horrible situation, but He chose to endure one of the most painful deaths that a person could experience!
For a while, I wondered why. Why crucifixion? Why would Jesus go through such a torturous death? Couldn't it have been an easier death that still accomplished the same purpose?
Halfway through, I came to a revelation:
Jesus went through a torturous death so that He could best show His love for humanity.
Imagine if Jesus would have had a quick, painless death. The people at that time would have believed that they were "doing Him a favor." Jesus would have been forgotten. His death would never have been remembered as a loving sacrifice. Thus, Jesus endured the most painful death one could out of love for the ones who were beating Him, mocking Him, and hanging Him on the tree.
I also realized that if I were in that crowd where Jesus was being abused, I would have gone along with the crowds. I would have been laying my fists on Jesus and nailing Him to the cross. I am not better than those people back then and it would be foolish of me to think that I am. I am not saying this to get sympathy. Far from it actually. I am so thankful for this revelation. By truly studying Jesus's death, I am beginning to understand Jesus's immense love for me even though I am no different than the people in His day.
Even though this has been a difficult part of the Bible for me to talk about, I am just barely starting to understand the tip of the iceberg of the depth of Jesus's love for all of humanity.
I would like to end this short post with a simple call to action:
Take some time to study Jesus's death. Don't just read it and put it down (like I used to do) but really study it. Read some commentaries. Look up Roman torture history. Study crucifixion. You can start here: https://people.bethel.edu/~pferris/ot103/Jesus_Crucifixion.pdf
I state this call to action because Jesus really shows His love to humanity during this brutal time on the cross. He shows us the depth of His sacrifice. And although it may be uncomfortable for us to study Jesus's death, I can promise that understanding Jesus's love for is one of the most incredible things we can do with our spare time.
"But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us." - Romans 5:8 (ERV)