Good Friday and Easter Reflection 2006
Jesus was not the only one who was ever crucified and tortured. But no one ever responded to unjust sufferings like He did. This sets Him apart from all other great men, all other martyrs and all other who have suffered. This sets Christianity apart from all other faiths.
There are many people who suffer because of their own fault so their sufferings are nothing to boast about. But there are people who suffer because others mistreat them.
Mistreatment can come in various degrees from mild insult to very cruel extreme torture. A person's response towards injustice that is done to him reveals what is inside of him. The greater the injustice, the deeper it will reveal a person's inner fortitude. When we face injustices, all our superficial cool appearances and pretenses begin to wear out and what is seen is who we really are.
Most people retaliate against injustice done against them with revengeful heart. Some others endure with arrogance, looking down on their torturers who are of very poor morals. The best ones are those who could endure in silence and kept their sanity in tact so that they do not end up being barbaric like their torturers.
But Jesus Christ is a unique one of His own so He is qualified as the Teacher of all humanity.
He never did anything wrong all His life, in thought, words and deed, such that His most hateful enemy could not even point out a single spot although they had tried to be as faultfinding as possible. Not only He never did anything wrong, but actively and passionately all His life He gave and gave and gave, enriching the poor and lowly around Him. This completely faultless life coupled with active and perfect selfless giving for the abundance of others sets the Founder of Christianity apart from every other human being ever walked on earth.
In return to His love, He received the cruelest torture and most humiliating rejection and went through it all alone. Emotionally, nobody ever suffered like Him, because nobody ever loves and gives like Him and thus could never experience the emotional pain of such contrast of treatment to the degree He experienced. His physical pain is considered one of the most horrible ones in history. But still, these are not the greatest pains. His greatest pain is spiritual. It is experiencing the wrath of God where the sin of humanity was put upon Him. Could we even stand to bear the wrath of God for just a fraction of our own sin? Yet, Jesus who had never sinned bore the sin of the world upon Himself. He is rightly called the Savior of the world.
Not only He did not retaliate, not only He endured all the mistreatments in silence. At the climax of the combination of all these most excruciating pains, the cry that came out of His mouth was, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Who could ever invent this story? No, not our fallen mind. Not our ingrained selfish thought. Not our distorted imagination. We can never come up with this idea of loving our enemy because the best teachers of the world could only go as far as teaching endurance of sufferings without retaliation. But to love our enemy actively and wholeheartedly in the midst of the greatest injustice? This kind of love does not belong to human being. It comes from Heaven. When history witnessed this extraordinary event, we are awakened that Heavenly Love had once visited us personally in blood and flesh and walked among us. Jesus was the only Teacher who demonstrated every single thing He preached and did it perfectly.
My heart is crushed each time I meditate on this. It is a sense of wonder, indebtedness, gratitude mixed with a sense of responsibility, shame over my frequent failures and sense of deep inadequacy to live and walk like Christ, but with hope and faith in Him to change me.
Christ's response towards sufferings and those who mistreated Him is not foolish and mindless love but it rests solidly on eternal foundation, i.e. the foundation of Justice and Love. His response reveals the depth of His understanding of justice beyond what any other human being ever knew. He knew and see so clearly the Justice we do not know and see. He saw the eternal Righteous Judge that is why He could go through all sufferings patiently, entrusting all judgment to God who would certainly judge righteously at His perfect time. United with Justice, he who is Love has the power to turn the most hateful enemies into most devoted servants. As someone says, Christ turns even dung into jewels. It is not a stupid love, though some might imagine they could trample on this love without realizing that to their final destruction they are throwing away the only hope they have when the Judge comes. Christ's love is a transforming and conquering love to all who receives Him truly. For 2000 years our history witness unending transformation of souls from all strata of society, from all parts of the world, who have been completely won over and are willing to live and die in love for the crucified Nazarene.
With the coming Easter, His resurrection tells us that God's judgment is coming and will prevail ultimately. We have seen the darkest moment in history, the crucifixion of the most righteous Man on earth by the most corrupt powers of religion, politics and judiciary, being turned into the greatest victory of all eternity as through His death He gives eternal life to all who believe in Him. Because of His resurrection, we know this life is not the end. Because of His resurrection, we know that all injustices in the world will be sorted out some day so we can have great patience and perseverance in our sufferings and continue to do what is right in His eyes, with full confidence that the Judge will judge the world righteously.
Because of His resurrection, we know we have to live soberly in reverent fear because He is coming back soon to judge the living and the dead. Upon this foundation, we can triumph against the darkest powers and the greatest evil in the world.
Let us renew our faith in Him again as we remember His sacrifice and as we celebrate His resurrection, our only sure hope and foundation and the reason for everything we do. Let us work unceasingly and wait patiently until the Lord comes again.
There are many people who suffer because of their own fault so their sufferings are nothing to boast about. But there are people who suffer because others mistreat them.
Mistreatment can come in various degrees from mild insult to very cruel extreme torture. A person's response towards injustice that is done to him reveals what is inside of him. The greater the injustice, the deeper it will reveal a person's inner fortitude. When we face injustices, all our superficial cool appearances and pretenses begin to wear out and what is seen is who we really are.
Most people retaliate against injustice done against them with revengeful heart. Some others endure with arrogance, looking down on their torturers who are of very poor morals. The best ones are those who could endure in silence and kept their sanity in tact so that they do not end up being barbaric like their torturers.
But Jesus Christ is a unique one of His own so He is qualified as the Teacher of all humanity.
He never did anything wrong all His life, in thought, words and deed, such that His most hateful enemy could not even point out a single spot although they had tried to be as faultfinding as possible. Not only He never did anything wrong, but actively and passionately all His life He gave and gave and gave, enriching the poor and lowly around Him. This completely faultless life coupled with active and perfect selfless giving for the abundance of others sets the Founder of Christianity apart from every other human being ever walked on earth.
In return to His love, He received the cruelest torture and most humiliating rejection and went through it all alone. Emotionally, nobody ever suffered like Him, because nobody ever loves and gives like Him and thus could never experience the emotional pain of such contrast of treatment to the degree He experienced. His physical pain is considered one of the most horrible ones in history. But still, these are not the greatest pains. His greatest pain is spiritual. It is experiencing the wrath of God where the sin of humanity was put upon Him. Could we even stand to bear the wrath of God for just a fraction of our own sin? Yet, Jesus who had never sinned bore the sin of the world upon Himself. He is rightly called the Savior of the world.
Not only He did not retaliate, not only He endured all the mistreatments in silence. At the climax of the combination of all these most excruciating pains, the cry that came out of His mouth was, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Who could ever invent this story? No, not our fallen mind. Not our ingrained selfish thought. Not our distorted imagination. We can never come up with this idea of loving our enemy because the best teachers of the world could only go as far as teaching endurance of sufferings without retaliation. But to love our enemy actively and wholeheartedly in the midst of the greatest injustice? This kind of love does not belong to human being. It comes from Heaven. When history witnessed this extraordinary event, we are awakened that Heavenly Love had once visited us personally in blood and flesh and walked among us. Jesus was the only Teacher who demonstrated every single thing He preached and did it perfectly.
My heart is crushed each time I meditate on this. It is a sense of wonder, indebtedness, gratitude mixed with a sense of responsibility, shame over my frequent failures and sense of deep inadequacy to live and walk like Christ, but with hope and faith in Him to change me.
Christ's response towards sufferings and those who mistreated Him is not foolish and mindless love but it rests solidly on eternal foundation, i.e. the foundation of Justice and Love. His response reveals the depth of His understanding of justice beyond what any other human being ever knew. He knew and see so clearly the Justice we do not know and see. He saw the eternal Righteous Judge that is why He could go through all sufferings patiently, entrusting all judgment to God who would certainly judge righteously at His perfect time. United with Justice, he who is Love has the power to turn the most hateful enemies into most devoted servants. As someone says, Christ turns even dung into jewels. It is not a stupid love, though some might imagine they could trample on this love without realizing that to their final destruction they are throwing away the only hope they have when the Judge comes. Christ's love is a transforming and conquering love to all who receives Him truly. For 2000 years our history witness unending transformation of souls from all strata of society, from all parts of the world, who have been completely won over and are willing to live and die in love for the crucified Nazarene.
With the coming Easter, His resurrection tells us that God's judgment is coming and will prevail ultimately. We have seen the darkest moment in history, the crucifixion of the most righteous Man on earth by the most corrupt powers of religion, politics and judiciary, being turned into the greatest victory of all eternity as through His death He gives eternal life to all who believe in Him. Because of His resurrection, we know this life is not the end. Because of His resurrection, we know that all injustices in the world will be sorted out some day so we can have great patience and perseverance in our sufferings and continue to do what is right in His eyes, with full confidence that the Judge will judge the world righteously.
Because of His resurrection, we know we have to live soberly in reverent fear because He is coming back soon to judge the living and the dead. Upon this foundation, we can triumph against the darkest powers and the greatest evil in the world.
Let us renew our faith in Him again as we remember His sacrifice and as we celebrate His resurrection, our only sure hope and foundation and the reason for everything we do. Let us work unceasingly and wait patiently until the Lord comes again.
posted by Mejlina Tjoa @ 11:54 AM
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home