Easter Season

HAPPY EASTER!!! What an awesome season this is, and what a time to reflect and learn from Jesus our Savior.  He modeled to us servanthood, and obedience. The King of all creation taught us to serve each other!   At the last supper He wrapped a towel around His waist, and washed all of the disciples feet.  Now I don't know about you but I hate feet!   And those feet were really dirty!  walking in the dusty dirty streets with sandals, He bowed before them and did this dirty job.  Can you imagine washing your enemies dirty feet?  Sinking to that level and doing them a service?  He washed Judas' feet, the feet of the man who betrayed Him in an unthinkable way!  Not only did He wash his feet, He did it with LOVE!   Talk about big steps to follow.  Sheesh!   I pray that I will have a servants heart like that!

Let's go to the garden of Gethsemene.  Jesus was praying to His daddy.  He was anguished and full of grief.  He asked our heavenly Father to  take this cup from Him.  Jesus knew what was about to happen, and He prayed to God to stop it from happening, He prayed to God a couple times, maybe hoping He could change His mind?  Jesus added to the prayer though, YOUR WILL NOT MINE BE DONE!!  He knew that even though this was gonna hurt, and He didn't want to go through it that if it be God's will, it would be for good.  We should all learn to pray like that and when we are asking for something, we be okay for God's will to be done, because in the end it will be much better than ours.
You know what else I think of, how God's heart must've ached, to know what His son must endure, and to have to let Jesus go through that.  I know how my heart hurts when my kids are suffering. God watched it all, all so those who were doing the torturing, the whipping, the nailing, the spitting, and the mocking, so that they could have eternal life.  God LOVES even those who don't know Him, those who are against Him, He loves  them enough to sacrifice His one and only son!  Wow, how I pray to be able to love like that!

The last thing that amazes me about this weekend and the amazing things that were done for me, is that as Jesus was on that cross bleeding for me, He also prayed for me. He asked God to forgive them, they know not what they are doing.  Everytime, I sin (which is multiple times a day) it is that prayer and that act of unconditional love of my King dying on the cross for me that gives me the ability of having eternal life.  Jesus LOVES each and every person here on this earth so much, that he was tortured,  and crucified on the cross, so that we are forgiven. 

I am forgiven!  That doesn't mean I am perfect, it means I make mistakes and lots  of them! BUT, I have Jesus Christ in my corner, He has paid the penalty for my sin, it is through His perfect life that I am saved, and that I have a seat up in heaven!   He has conquered the grave, and my sins are gone!  This is the season to PRAISE HIM!   To HIM be the glory!!

Crucifixion was a form of torture that literally knocked the wind out of a person. The weight of the body suspended by the arms caused immediate pain in the chest, paralyzing the pectoral muscles and making breathing extremely difficult. The person being crucified could inhale but had great difficulty exhaling. To exhale he had to push on his feet and straighten his legs to release the pressure exerted on his arms and chest. But the pain that this caused to his feet was so excruciating, because of the nails, that he would immediately cease any such effort. Death usually occurred within two or three days. But when the Romans wanted to shorten his agony, they would break his legs. So, unable to straighten himself with the help of his legs, the man would suffocate rapidly. The soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves crucified with Jesus to hasten their deaths, but Jesus’ legs were not broken because he was already dead (John 19:3133). Thus was accomplished a prophecy from Scripture saying that none of his bones would be broken (John 19:36). It is in this context, while he was fighting for his every breath, that Jesus uttered his last words.

While they were nailing his hands and feet to the cross, or a little later, when they were putting up the cross, Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

The majority of bandits and criminals, defiant and furious, would yell curses and insults while being nailed to a cross, but Jesus, filled with an amazing calmness and an inexplicable love, interceded with the Father for the forgiveness of his torturers. As J.C. Ryle, the famous Anglican Bishop of Liverpool expressed so well, “While the blood of the greatest sacrifice started to flow, the greatest of all high priests started to intercede.” Jesus, since he was God in the form of man, could have condemned his torturers or destroyed them with his breath. But then what would his sufferings have accomplished? He came to save and not to judge. He preferred to die for the guilty, which required of him even more strength and courage.

Praying for one’s torturers is not human. Jesus was able to do it because of his intimate relationship with the Father. By so doing, he accomplished the words of the prophet Isaiah, “He poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53.12)

Touched by the repentant attitude and the faith of one of the thieves crucified with him, Jesus turned towards him and declared, “ I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43