Christ Crucified and Me

Over the last few days I've not been feeling well and have had a lot of time to think. My thoughts, of course, have been on my pain and some other personal dilemmas we have been facing. Pat and I spoke earlier today of how we don't know how we would get through this period in our lives if it weren't for our faith in God and His ability and desire to sustain us. We know that we will get through and our prayers always contain a statement of "Thy will be done".

Have you tried to put yourself in Christ's place on the night before the crucifixion? Can you imagine the agony He must have been going through? Even though He was a divine being, we sometimes forget He too was human. The pain that He felt from the scourging, the embarrassment from the mocking, the suffering from the crown of thorns being ground into His skull and the agony of spikes being driven through His hands and His feet. Could I have borne the same pain and still looked at those who had inflicted these atrocities on me saying, "Father, forgive them for they know what what they do." I don't think so. Having to answer that question in this manner is hard for me.

The truth of the matter is that I'm not of the same nature of Christ. I wish I were and I do try to be. Some days I get a little closer and some days I take a few steps backward. The one thing that I have to remember is that I don't have to be perfect. There has only been one perfect man to ever walk this earth and He died so that I don't have to be.

There have been more than one occasion in which I was in an audience when a preacher said, "If it weren't for the fact that there are children present, I would read to you an account of the crucifixion written by a physician. It is just too graphic for young ears." Are we doing our children a disservice by saying this? Here too, I'm really not sure. They are hounded every day by a deluge of "stuff" from Satan. Just walk through your local middle or high school to hear and see what they must experience every day, unless they are blessed enough to be home schooled. At one point in my life I felt that homeschooling deprived kids of some life experiences. Today, those being home schooled are being deprived of nothing but being bombarded by Satan and the many things he uses to pull their spirits from our Lord.

Sometimes, I really think that, except for very young children, it would not hurt our kids to hear exactly what Christ suffered for them. If that picture could be instilled in their minds as well as ours, it might not be quite so hard to say "no" to Satan and "yes" to Christ.

The other thing that we have to remember is that even though Christ went through this terrible suffering and death, it would not be worth anything if He hadn't risen. There were countless people who died on crosses during Roman rule. Yet, they aren't our saviors. The only Savior we have is Christ Jesus and that is because He overcame death and is ruling today right next to our Father. After you have imagined His death, imagine how Mary must have felt when she went to His tomb and there was no body there for her to prepare. The emptiness must have been tremendous. Imagine walking into the cemetery where a beloved family member is buried and seeing their tombstone turned over, their graving exhumed and you have no idea where the body had been taken.

Then, imagine walking down the road and running into the cemetery's caretaker only to find out that it is your loved one. The emotions must have run from one end of the spectrum to the other. Mary must have been terrified, elated, anguished, hurt, angry, you name it she must have felt it in those first few minutes after her arrival. What she must have felt when she first realized that her friend had been risen is unimaginable.

When you say your evening prayers, please remember to thank God, not only for the fact that Christ suffered and died for us, but that He is risen. He sits on the right hand of our Father, interceding for us, explaining to our God what we are feeling and what we need. Also, express thanks for the Holy Spirit who can intervene for us when we don't even know what we need. Those who walk each day in the light of God's truth are truly a blessed people.

In Him,
Mimmy


Mary’s Good News, The Lord is Risen
Mark 16: 9-6; John 20: 11-18

Mary stood outside the open tomb
Weeping with bitter tears.
She knew not where they’d placed her Lord,
She could not calm her fears.

When asked by the two angels,
Why she was crying so,
She said she knew not where to look
Nor where she was to go.

She then saw the lone gardener,
At least that was her thought;
When He called her by her name,
She knew ‘twas He who taught.

He would not let her cling to Him
He sent her on her way
To tell His friends and followers
That He rose as He did say.

She ran as quickly as she could
To give them the good news.
They looked at her in disbelief
Saying it was not true.

We wonder at their lack of faith
When they had been with Christ;
And heard Him say with His own lips,
"In three days I will rise."

Yet have we any greater faith
When we read of all His strife;
His death and His resurrection;
His loving, caring life,

Do we then the things he asks,
Or live our lives for Him?
It seems to me, that we like them,
Have a faith that is quite slim.

We too must listen to Mary
Who said, "Our Lord is risen",
And walk with Him each day we live
To our home prepared in heaven.

Mimmy (Joyce Smith)
January 27, 2006