Daily Archives: June 1, 2014

A Tender Moment

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A TENDER MOMENT 

“Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to her, ‘Woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, the disciple took her into his home.” John 19:25-27 NIV.

A little group of women, alone and vulnerable in a crowd of abusive men and Roman soldiers. Did they care? They cared enough about Jesus to ignore the hostile mob around them. They stood near the cross, near enough to hear His laboured breathing and to watch the pool of blood spreading on the ground beneath the cross. They clung to one another for support and comfort in their grief. The one who was suffering the agony of hell, innocent as He was, was dearer to them than any other person on earth.

As much as He needed His disciples at that moment, (and only His beloved disciple was near enough to talk to), Jesus needed the women. They loved Him. They believed in Him, no matter what the religious authorities and the Roman government had done to Him. They wept for Him and for themselves for their loss. He was beyond their touch and their help. They would no longer be able to care for Him, prepare food, mend His garments, listen to His gracious teaching and be close to Him.

Mary, His mother felt it the most. Did she not carry Him in her womb for nine precious months as she pondered on the angel’s message and felt His tiny life stirring within her? Had she not borne the pain of His birth, and known the joy of holding the soft bundle in her arms? Had she not suckled Him and watched Him grow sturdy and strong?

Did she not lovingly nurture Him to robust young adulthood and then have to let Him go after thirty years of His being there in her home caring for her as her first-born son? Did she not often hold His strong hands, calloused from the hard work which her beloved Joseph had taught Him to do?

She felt as though her heart was being ripped from her chest. Although He had been long gone from her home, she knew He was still there somewhere, alive and available from time to time as He moved around the country. Now she could only watch helplessly as His life slipped away. He was so young, too young to die. All she would have left would be her precious memories.

John also stood nearby. Many thoughts flooded his mind as he watched the gruesome scene with horror. He had only know Jesus for just over three years, but they were three action-packed years, full of never-to-be forgotten miracles and riveting new ideas in the company of a man who was like no one he had ever known. He had watched and listened, and had eventually been convinced and embraced Jesus as the Son of God.

Jesus’ love was gentle, tender and all-encompassing. He cared about the throw-away people, who lived on the fringe of society, whom everyone else considered trash. He was bold and courageous in the face of open hostility from the powerful religious leaders. He spoke the truth in the face of criticism, anger and abuse and was unfazed by the threat of death because He knew who He was and why He had come. He almost seemed to invite arrest and the possibility of execution because He fearlessly exposed their hypocrisy and refused to back down on His claims.

Listen to Him in His dying moments. As awful as His agony was at that moment, He saw His mother and felt her sorrow. With painful gasps He entrusted her to His beloved friend, John, and John to her. She would have a new son, and John a new mother, united in their grief and in their love for Jesus.

As we inch our way through these terrible hours, six long hours of unspeakable suffering, we see a naked man, clothed in His own blood and the spittle of those who despised Him, wearing His royal robe with dignity and honour because it represented victory over prejudice, bigotry, and irrational hatred; His tender love for those who loved Him and forgiveness for those who hated Him and tortured Him to death. His final, rasping words were words of compassion for those who suffered with Him, always forgetting Himself in the face of the needs of others.

His plight at that moment was His response to the greatest need of all, the need of all mankind to be reconciled to the Father and to come back home. He paid the debt so that we can be forgiven and accepted into God’s forever family.

His Royal Robe

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HIS ROYAL ROBE 

“When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took His clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

“‘Let’s not tear it,’ they said to one another, ‘Let’s decide by lot who will get it.’ This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” So this is what the soldiers did.” John 19:23, 24 NIV.

Of course, if the soldiers gambled for Jesus’ clothing, it meant only one thing. He was left undressed.

He was suspended on four nails, lifted up and hanging on a cross, stark naked except for the thorny crown on His brow and the coating of blood that had congealed over His broken flesh. He had not only faced the agony of crucifixion after the horror of flogging; He now also endured the embarrassment and shame of nakedness; everyone around the cross and the passers-by could gaze at Him.

What did they see?

There were no garments to hide what the Roman soldiers had done to Him. His body was bloodied and broken beyond recognition. His face was bruised and swollen from the soldiers’ abuse; they had hit Him in the face with their fists; there were bald and bloodied patches on His cheeks where they had ripped out His beard. They had mocked Him and spat in His face. They had jammed a crown of thorns on His head, the vicious barbs piercing deep into His flesh, leaving rivulets of blood mixed with spittle streaming down His face, and into His eyes and mouth.

But, according to Jewish culture, it was not a sin to be naked; it was a sin to look at a naked person. The Jews, therefore, would have turned their faces away. It was the Roman soldiers who would have gloated over the spectacle of His naked body hanging from their torture stake; and gazed at their handiwork!

How many Scriptures were fulfilled in these two verses!

“They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” Psalm 22:18 NIV

“…His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and His form marred beyond human likeness…” Isaiah 52:14b NIV.

“I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.” Isaiah 50:6 NIV.

“Like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised and we held Him in low esteem.” Isaiah 53:5b NIV.

“They will look upon me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.” Zechariah 12:10 NIV.

Even the Father could not look upon His naked and ruined Son. Jesus’ broken body bore the brunt of all human sin — summed up in the hatred that was visible for everyone to see. God turned His face away and tore His garment — the great veil in the temple that hid His glory from the eyes of the people — and mourned for His Son.

But Jesus wore His wounds and His nakedness like a royal robe. It was not in shame but in triumph that He hung on the cross. His body proclaimed to the world, “Look what you did to me!” but His spirit remained pure and unstained by sin. Every blow to His body and every mocking word to His heart could not entice Him to hate. To His dying breath He loved them — “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”