“A Blip in History”

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

BIBLE READING: Luke 22-23

Jesus was betrayed by a follower he handpicked, denied by one of his closest friends and abandoned by all. He was accosted by a cowardly religious cohort, mocked him and accused of the very thing he wanted them to see: he was the Son of God (Luke 22.70). They brought false charges against him to the highest officials. Even these men, who had weak moral compasses, saw the injustice, but failed to act with conviction (23.3-25).

I do not have the words to properly capture the drama and horror of Jesus’ death. As I read through the final chapters of Luke, I was frustrated with the insincerity and ambivalence of so many. I was saddened by the loneliness he must have felt. To see how something so ugly could be done to someone that was clearly innocent was disturbing and unsettling.

And Jesus endured it all. “Like a lamb led to the slaughter… he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53.7). He didn’t fight it, but continually entrusted himself to God, ultimately committing his spirit into God’s hands (Luke 23.46).

Jesus had no romanticized ideas about God’s work for him. Doing the Father’s will was hard. It was not what felt right to him. It was not even what we wanted to do. In agony and earnest, he struggled with his feelings, ultimately finding peace in the plans of God (Luke 22.42-44).

We must appreciate the agony Jesus endured for our sins. We need to walk the path to Calvary with him, realizing he knew exactly where it was taking him. We need to feel the gut-wrenching struggle of knowing he was innocent and yet allowing the wicked to have their way. What determination he had to keep from saying the word and having 12 legions of angels save him!

We must see how purposeful Jesus was in these moments and empowered he was by the will of God. His choices go deeper than mere morality and goodness – they express resolve to accomplish something of lasting value. That’s exactly what he did, but it came at the ultimate cost.

In retrospect, his moments of suffering occurred as a blip in history. But the result has forever changed the lives of every person. “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations…” (Luke 24.46-47). And that’s why he did it.

We come to Jesus looking for forgiveness. We come looking for a way to live. We come looking for hope and determination and purpose. And he offers all those things. He sets our lives on a different path that often includes struggle and suffering, but that serve to align us with the will of God. Sometimes it is hard, but we should “consider that sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8.18).

Let us learn to walk with Jesus every day, in every season, with the determination to do the Father’s will at all cost.

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