06/22/2022
When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, that the cup be taken from Him, and His prayer was so fervent that His sweat fell like blood, an Angel was sent to strengthen Him, and for years I read this to mean that the Angel strengthened His faith, and gave Him the physical determination to obey God’s Will, but then it dawned on me that I was wrong. Jesus had perfect faith, belief, and never wavered in obeying God’s will. What I now envision the Angel bringing Jesus was the strength of God’s love. I see an Angel holding Him in a loving embrace, and covering Him with His Father’s love. When sin and death passed away and the world was transformed, Jesus endured all of the suffering, and took on the world’s sin, not by some miraculous degree of physical fortitude, but through the power of love. Do we look to God’s love when we face the hard things in our lives? Do we feel the loving embrace of our Father as unseen Angels hold us close?
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”
1 Corinthians 13:7-8 ESV
We are told to love our enemies, and to be very honest with you that was, and still remains, a very hard commandment for me. When being mistreated, and hurt by someone it is only human nature to react in self-defense; to protect yourself, your family, and those things you believe in, but not out of hatred towards our enemy. We are told to love them, and as I read of Jesus standing before Pilot, or being beaten and whipped, all of this with no mention of Him striking back, cursing them, or damning them, I realize what it means when He tells us to love one another… even our enemies.
““This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
John 15:12 ESV
Jesus took our lashes, our sin, our suffering, and death upon the cross, but there was not one shred of hatred in any of this. Hanging there on the cross He forgave the thief next to Him, and told him that he was saved. In constant communication (Prayer) with the Father He ask that those who were persecuting Him be forgiven, and never once asked that they be harmed. Can we do that? In the midst of being ridiculed, beaten, smeared with the sin of others, robbed of our clothing, and facing death, can we find it in us to love our enemy? Can we see in them something worth loving… perhaps a soul that is being tormented by a wrong thinking mind? Can we love them, and not only love them, but love them like a friend?
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13 ESV
As children we sing the song “Jesus loves me”, but when we do so we are imagining being loved by the risen Christ. As mature men, women, and Christians, we need to see His love very differently. We need to see ourselves filled with sin, with His blood on our hands, and while standing at the foot of the cross, we need to feel the weight of our sin being lifted from us. We need to see Him as He asks His Father that we be forgiven. We need to see Jesus as He shows us the full strength of God’s love, and the power of grace. Like children, we should see the risen Christ, but not before we feel the full pain, hurt, and yes, love, of the suffering Son of God… because God loved us while we were still sinners, and His enemies.
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”
Romans 5:10 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for loving us so completely. Thank you for finding something in each of us to love despite the sin that runs rampant there. Help us Lord to be like you, and to love one another despite the mistreatment and circumstances. Help us to see something to love in our worst enemy some redeeming quality that is worth loving. Give us your eyes for a moment so that we can see their soul that is being tormented, and sorrowed, by the sin that their mind and flesh wallows in. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who loves us when we can’t even love ourselves, and who sent your own Son to die for us so that we can be washed clean of sin by His blood, and forgiven. Praised be your name for extending your love to us, and placing it within us with the command that we love others. Merciful are you that by your grace you grant us unearned redemption, and from the depths of your love we receive the embrace of Angels as we pray for strength… the strength of being love, and to give love. Wash us, and purify us from sin through the blood of Jesus. Separate our sin from us, and choose to forget it as we come before you transformed in Christ. All glory is yours Father, and our souls shall sing eternally… Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who was, and is, and is to come!
“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”
Romans 5:8-10 ESV
Rich Forbes