Remember?

The week ahead looms in the distance as an overwhelming storm surge about to captivate the beach. It approaches with ferocity.  A heavy force  burdens my shoulders as I weigh the responsibilities of my choices, my outcomes, my sin nature. 

Today, we celebrate the day our King road into a town. Palm leaves and clothes clad the dirty ground as He enters Jerusalem on a simple donkey. Feel the excitement overwhelming the multitudes as the news roars through the rooftops of the Nazarene’s entrance.

Do you think He smiled? Did He wave at the young children and make eye contact with the crowds as the air caught breath of the words “Hosanna”!  Did His eyes well-up with tears as He choked back his love for those of us in that crowd? 

Was it nearly unbearable for the young man on the donkey knowing what would happen at the end of this week? How did He keep from shouting the truth: “You’re going to kill me! You’re going to turn on me! I don’t want to do this!!” 

No. He road quietly. Silently knowing the fate that is to come. He knew.

“Hallelujah What A Savior”

As a child, I was taught not to focus on the brutality that was Jesus’ human death, but rather on the miraculous resurrection that tells the story of redemption and truth. But this week, this week I believe we ought to quiet our hearts, silence our phones, open His words and remember. Holy. 

Remember that He had twelve best friends. Twelve best friends that He chose. He chose to adore, serve, and love, all the while knowing every -single -one would betray Him on this earth. He knew. He still broke bread and shared wine and sang a hymn with them. He still asked them to pray and although they continually chose to disappoint Him? He knew. 

“Hallelujah What a Savior”

Remember when He was innocent and taken as a guilty prisoner? He was  tried. He was asked ridiculous questions and mocked for His silence. He looked into the very same eyes that welcomed Him just days earlier on a path of leaves, and saw their confusion and denial as they sentenced him to gruesome death. He knew.

“Hallelujah What a Savior”

Remember when He was locked to a beating post and slashed with tails of leather  embedded with glass that shredded His bare skin? He was made unrecognizable. Gruesome. They ripped His beard from His face as He screamed out in pain. But He knew. He knew all of this was His purpose.

“Hallelujah What a Savior”

Remember when He was so near death that He couldn’t bear his own cross to Calvary’s hill? They shouted profanities in His face. Their spit in His eyes blurred His already waning vision. They tore His clothes from his already barren body, and let Him walk in shame. Naked. Alone. He knew.

“Hallelujah What a Savior”

Remember when they laid Him on that cross? The nails piercing His bones and shattering each fragment as He struggled to catch enough breathe to scream. He spoke kindly to the last two men next to him.“Paradise.” He knew. 

“Hallelujah what a Savior”

Remember his mother? Unable to bear the sight of her once, beautiful child. Tortured to death in humiliation and exile. Made an example of by the Romans for all to see. Her heart physically breaking as the clouds begin to cover. Her tears flooding the ground beneath her as it begins to shake. He yells one last phrase. The rocks split. The veil tears. It is finished. He knew.

“Hallelujah What a Savior”

I was there that day. I was the one shouting profanities and doubting His sovereignty. I was there in the pain of the thorns as they pushed into His blood soaked hair. His flesh ripped open by my own sinful desires and prideful distrust. His sacrificial death made for all humanity as He begged his Father for the unfathomable cup to be taken from Him. He knew.

“Hallelujah What a Savior”

But three days? Just three days can change a heart and a world..forever. 

Soon, I will write about the impact of that resurrection. The one that broke the barrier between heaven and earth. The life that arose from the grave creating mediation between the Throne Room and repentance. The Grace that restores our souls and guides us into intimate communion with our Creator. One day. But this week, I’ll spend more time in reflection, in reverence and redemption for the One Man who paid the ultimate price for me and for you. Join me?

“Hallelujah!! What a Savior!”