Remember The Cross

When I was younger, I never liked to think of Jesus' death, it was so painful, disturbing, and hard. While I knew He died and I was thankful for that, I knew the ending... I knew He rose again, death didn't hold Him. I wanted to focus on that part. Easter is my favorite holiday, has been since I was little, because it's so JOYFUL! But as I got older, I realized the importance of His death. I realized that without the beating, mocking, or death that He endured, there would be no resurrection, joy, or hope. I think so often Christians try to avoid thinking of His death, because it's weighty. Also, because many don't want to acknowledge their sins, or acknowledge that they are the reason for the cruelest death endured in history. It's easy for us to be caught up in focusing on His resurrection, rather than His death, because it's easier. If we don't look at the cross, the crucifixion of Jesus, we miss the story. He had to die in order to rise again. We can't experience the true joy of His resurrection if we never feel the weight and sorrow of His death or acknowledge it in the first place. To ignore His death is to ignore the Gospel. If we don't acknowledge the fact that we are sinners, we are the reason for His death, He paid the cost, He took our place, then we don't understand why He had to die anyways, we miss the story. We miss the fact that we needed Him, He spared us, showed us grace. When we look over His death, we look over grace and love. The resurrection has no power if He never died, the resurrection wouldn't exist without His death. We would not be able to appreciate Christ's resurrection if we never acknowledged what He did for us. He didn't die so that it could be overlooked, He died for us so that we wouldn't be overlooked, but rather could have eternal life with Him. The ignorance of death ignores love, power, and grace. We wouldn't know joy, if there wasn't any pain or difficulty. The pain and difficulty of His death helps the resurrection to be that much more powerful, because we feel the weight, the heaviness, and on Sunday, it's lifted. But without the weight being there at first, we wouldn't know anything was lifted. Remember this Sunday that our Savior is ALIVE, but don't forget all He went through for you, in place of you, instead of you. Remember the cross. Someone had to pay, He humbled Himself and paid it in full for you. God loved you so much He sent His Son to die for you, even if you were the only one on earth. He became the lowest of lows, was beaten, mocked, and scorned. Rejected, despised, cursed. Mocked with a crown of thorns, pounded to the cross with nails piercing His hands and feet, and died... for you, because of you. Don't forget that. He loved you so much, He died the most horrific death in history, God felt the deepest pain of losing His Son, but He knew it would be worth it, because He gained you. He wanted you. Jesus didn't die for no reason. Don't ignore His death, acting like it never happened. It was the darkest day in history. We can't ignore history, it has the best lessons. Turns out the darkest day in history is one of the greatest lessons we can learn. Though, we will never learn anything if we keep ignoring it. Remember the price He paid. Remember the cross. Remember.

He thought of you while on the cross, He prayed for the people who rejected, mocked, and killed Him. You can think of all He did on the cross for you, especially as He thought of you while experiencing the worst pain in the world.

And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:2-6