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| Weldon's On the Way To Church |
I wanted to share something that has been on my mind that is congruent with Resurrection Day. I have been hanging out in Hebrews lately and just finding so many nuggets that are moving me in this book. But the one that really touched me in this season is Hebrews 5:7 that says, "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him."
In the mornings on our way to school we pass the cattle lots. These lots are full of rows and rows of cows that are being fattened for slaughter. I realize these cows are probably clueless what their final destination is, but imagine knowing that you are going to be slaughtered and killed and living day after day with that knowledge. According to Hebrews 5, Jesus lived with a constant revelation that He was going to be the sacrificial lamb which purchased our salvation. I would find it hard to get excited about life, or relax with that constantly over my head. It makes the scripture from Hebrews 12 so profound that, Jesus, "for the joy set before Him endured the cross". I/we were the JOY set before Jesus. It was His choice to go to the cross and become our "eternal salvation".
There is so much more in the above scripture to unpack, but I am just settling on the one thought in this Resurrection Remembrance season. Jesus cried loud, prayed, etc. to the Father regarding His future, but he submitted Himself to the Father's plan and obeyed for our redemption. I am so thankful. I am so touched. How could Jesus love us that much, that He live with a constant awareness of impending death and not run from it but submissively embrace it?
I think of my own children and what it would look like if I placed them on the other end of the cross. What if in order for them to be saved, I would have to endure something as dark as the crucifixion. You may not have children that you love in that way, but you may have a close friend, a spouse, a parent . . . Jesus did this for us. He set our faces, our lives, our eternal salvation before His own and endured such a horrific crucifixion and three days in the grave so we would have eternal life. This Resurrection season - I am pondering and I am thankful for the full man and full God who walked the road of suffering, realizing it many years prior to His death, just for us.
