Monday, March 18, 2013 -- What Does Jesus’ Death Have To Do With Me? (1)?

What does the suffering of Jesus have to do with us?  What difference does it make to me today that Jesus died? 

Most of us realize that to one degree or another we have harmed others by our actions, words, or neglect.  For many of us we persisted in harmful behaviours for many months or years and only when our own pain was too great to carry any longer did we seek help and look for a new way.  The death and resurrection of Jesus is a clear reminder that in whatever ways we’ve experienced evil done to us or done by us, Jesus stands ready to forgive, heal, and restore.  By allowing sin and evil to be piled on him, rather than remain with us, Jesus made a new way for those who choose it. That’s the challenge:  for those who choose it.

We can continue to carry our difficulties and our sin, the pain of broken relationships and harmful experiences in our past.  We can let memories trigger anger and resentment in us or simply make us sad and heavy and irritable.  We can remain stuck in an endless circle of wandering as a wounded one, wondering what on earth to do.    That’s a choice that many make.  They allow violence done to them or by them to become the focus of who they are today.

Jesus, through the cross, shows us a new option.  We can bundle up our pain, our brokenness, our hatred, our self-pity, our addictive behaviours, our sadness and sorrow and we can hand it over, give it away.  We can put it on Jesus, the suffering Saviour, and receive peace and healing back from him.  Jesus asks all of us today,  “Do you want to get well?”  “Do you want a new way of freedom and peace and love to be activated in your life today?”  There’s only ONE way for that to be our experience and that’s through turning our pain and our shame over to Jesus and then choosing a new way of life.

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:1-11 NLT)