“About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice: ‘Eli, Eli lema sabachthani ?’, which means, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?'” Matthew 27:46

“God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the word was God. John 1:1

Pondering the aspects of this post is enough to make my head and my spirit hurt. In my 60+ years, I will admit for many of those years, the via dolorosa, the trail of tears through Old Jerusalem which Jesus trudged to hill of Golgotha was depicted rather meekly. Then came Mel Gibson’s movie the Passion of Christ. And although the depiction of Christ’s suffering was extremely more graphic, no dramatization could adequately capture the utter brutality and physical suffering Jesus endured.

Yet since that movie came out, I’ve have experienced in many churches a desire to focus in a very primary way on the human suffering of Christ. That in some way, the stressing of the physical horrors is bringing about some greater honesty and primary truth to Jesus’s sacrifice.

I find that my spirit is troubled in seeing Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross primarily or even majorly focused on through the lens of physical suffering to be potentially misplaced. In the discussion that follows, words truly fail to adequately express the wonder, awe and outright ignorant confusion as well as total lack of complete understanding of Jesus’s sacrifice.

Let’s start with John and the beginning. And from the beginning Jesus, the Word, was with His Father God and indeed was God. Jesus, Himself stated no one knows the Father except the Son and Jesus certainly knew the Father. Jesus knew (and knows) the Father so well and trusts so completely, that He humbled Himself to leave the Father and come to us to fulfill His Father’s plan for our salvation.

Jesus is carrying out the Father’s plan. Yet Jesus is also completely God, thus He is perfect and knows no sin. Jesus being human is tempted but being God is able to resist that temptation perfectly. While here on this planet, experiencing our existence, Jesus is still communicating with, praying to and being with the Father.

The Father, being perfect cannot abide sin. Jesus Christ is God and does not sin. We humans are not God. We humans are broken, are fallen and we do sin. We humans cannot exist in the presence of God in our sinful nature. But our Heavenly Father, in His perfect mercy and grace, will not allow us to be separated from Him, by our own devices. God has a device, a plan, to cleanse us of our sin by having the perfect sacrifice take our sins upon Him, to pay our debt.

A quick sidetrack here to say that in writing this post I did research through the writings of the likes of Billy Graham, Joseph Prince, John Hagee and others.

Thus Jesus must take upon Himself, who knew no sin, all our sins. Don’t ask me how or at what point or anything like that. I can type the words but not truly grasp the gravity. Taking upon Himself our sins, Jesus became sin and thus must pay the price for sin. Pay our price for sin. Jesus must die. AND in that death have the Father, Son relationship broken.

Jesus takes on our sin and in doing so, willingly, mercifully, as sin sacrifices Himself for us and in that instant for whatever instant that might be, experiences the braking of the relationship with the Father. This was (and is today) a relationship from the beginning of time. There would not have been an instant up to that point where Jesus and the Father would not have known that intimate perfect relationship! Take a moment to try, just try and imagine that loss, that separation. Again I must admit, my mind, my spirit cannot fathom it.

I believe that separation, is the greatest sacrifice, even with the tremendous physical suffering. What we can at least attempt to grasp or at least acknowledge is the immeasurable love that it took from the Father to have the plan that would allow the sacrifice of His Son and the unfathomable humility, obedience and love for both the Father and for us His creation, to carry out the Father’s plan for our salvation by Jesus Christ.

As I say, I find that my spirit can become truly troubled, shouldn’t I be riddled with guilt, shouldn’t I run away in shame, there must be some terrible price that I must pay because of this sacrifice. Praise God for the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit testifies that what is desired from this sacrifice is LOVE. Love, plain and simple. Love for the Father, who first loves us. Love for the Son, Jesus Christ, who died for us and our salvation. Love for the Holy Spirit who resides in us and guides us. Love for ourselves who are His creation as well as equal love for others who are also His creation. Love is the response. Love is the answer. His love and abiding in Christ’s love is what can lead us away from sin to the glorious life our Father intended for us. A life now and eternal, our Father planned our salvation for. A life that Jesus Christ gave His life to save. May you have a blessed Good Friday.

Our Most Gracious Heavenly Father, as we ponder the height and depth of Your love and the lengths You will go to bring about our salvation; we are left totally in awe, totally dumbfounded. We thank and praise You for Your Son Jesus Christ and the perfect and immeasurable sacrifice He made for us and our salvation. Forgive us Father when we narrow the sacrifice to earthly realms in some misguided attempt to understand that which cannot be understood. Thank you for the Holy Spirit which testifies to the all powerful, all sustaining love You have for us. Help us to live into the Jesus’s sacrifice and abide in Him that we might live lives that bring glory to Your Most Holy Name. In the Name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen