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When the movie the Passion came out, some who saw it thought it was too violent. Some couldn’t even watch it because of the violence. There was a lot of focus on the suffering of Jesus and who caused it. However, when I saw the movie, there were two words in my mind that I left the theatre with. One was Love. The other was Determination. Jesus was determined to love us through His suffering.
Our world can sometimes paint a foo foo picture of love. A man romantically handing a girl a bouquet of flowers. A girl wrapped in a man’s embrace as they softly kiss. A wedding picture with a beautiful white gown in a gorgeous cathedral. These are all pretty pictures, but I think none of them really describes the kind of love that was laid out for us by our Saviour.
Isaiah 53
He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
As He was grieving, we turned on backs on Him and didn’t even care. We didn’t care that the sorrow He was experiencing was because of us. And yet He carried our weaknesses still. This is Love.
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.
It was our sins that left Him crushed, yet He loved us still. If getting beaten so badly that we could no longer recognize Him meant that we could be healed and whole, He was determined to take the beatings for us. This is Love.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
He showed us all this great love and yet every single one of us has left Him to do our own thing without Him. Knowing we would turn on backs on Him, the Lord still laid our sins upon Him. And He willingly took them for us. This is Love.
He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.
He did nothing to deserve the harsh treatment He received, but He didn’t retaliate. When you and I are done wrong by others, we want to let them know what a pathetic, explicative jerk they are! Not Jesus. He was done more wrong than anyone in the history of the world, and He still did not open His mouth to accuse us, call us names, or degrade us in any way. This is Love.
But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.
Jesus was determined to love us through His pain because He trusted that His Father’s plan would have a more glorious outcome than any suffering He was experiencing at the present moment. He knew that through His anguish, many would be brought close to the Father and that knowledge made His anguish worth it.
Love isn’t about finding someone to make you happy. Love isn’t about walking on a beach hand in hand. Love is about laying down your pride and your plans if need be so that the one you love can be brought closer to the Father. The present pain we experience cannot be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us, in us, and through us. It’s not about how much we've been hurt; it’s about how our hurt can be used to bring others closer to the Lord. This is Love.
Father God, You know how bad I’m hurting. You see my pain, and You see my tears. But, I trust You more than I trust my tears. I want Your will to be done no matter what the cost to me personally. Jesus is the ultimate example of experiencing pain He didn’t deserve, but the outcome was glorious! I trust that You can take the sacrifice of my suffering and resurrect and restore what has been broken and make something more beautiful out of it than I could ever imagine. If it brings those I love closer to You, than it will be worth it and my anguish will be satisfying. Please help me love for You, not for what I will get out of it. I love You, and I thank You for being so incredibly good to me.