Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Ash Wednesday
John 12:27-28 "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name."
FATHER, GLORIFY YOUR NAME
Can we even begin to understand how Jesus felt? Can we comprehend how His soul was troubled? Jesus was human, yet he knew that he was about to die and even how he would die. He was to be saddled with the sin and guilt of every human being ever born or to be born. Our sins of thought, word and action were to be laid upon him (Isaiah 53:4-6). The Law of God cursed us, yet he chose to be cursed for us (Galatians 3:13). The fact that Jesus was God didn't take away from his humanity, it wasn't anesthetic.
Still, Jesus remained the only Son of the Living God. He could do what He wished. I suppose he could have determined to leave us in the lurch and turn away from the Father's plan. Still, he did not pray: Father, deliver ME.
Let us here witness His commitment to you and to me. Jesus, with full knowledge of what lay ahead of him didn't back down. The events of Palm Sunday didn't change his course. He didn't shrink away. He said with the resolve of divine love: "For this purpose I have come."
For Jesus, this wasn't just about Him, as is evident in His own words: "Father, glorify your name."
Today we enter into the season of Lent. As we take inventory of our lives and look into the mirror of God's Law we see our sin and guilt. We rightly confess our sins. Lest we despair, we also look away from that mirror to watch in wonderment as the Son of God glorifies the Father by laying down His life for us all.
Let's think on this today, and take these words with us (John 1:14): "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
