“I guess how you view Jesus will be colored by just how much you think you need Him. ”
Years ago I was thumbing through a Reader's Digest and came across a list of "patents not pending". I don't remember the entire list but here is a sample of some of them. A "flash dark", to be used when a room is just to bright. Salted bandages! Ouch! But I guess the one that brought the biggest grin was nuclear hand grenades. Just how far would you have to throw that thing?
While I have never been consulted on how to run the universe, I am confident if given a chance, I would royally mess it up. I guess it was best that God never asked for my help and even better, had the plan ready to rescue me before I could even know that I needed help. All this is to say, let's take a few moments to think about Jesus and what He did and just what that means for us all.
I used to think that Jesus was this very mild mannered long haired hippy-like guy. Well that is how most of the pictures portray him. Another rather silly way of picturing him is that he was white skinned with very European features and eating the Last Supper around a proper English banquet table. Wow, how silly is that! A few years ago I read this book, The Six Miracles Of Calvary, by William R. Nicholson. While reading this book I began to wonder about just how all that took place. I will leave the deep theological teaching to the professionals, but I would encourage you to think with me on these things.
In Luke's Gospel, chapter 23, he records that the sun was darkened from noon to three in the afternoon. I will use a little righteous imaging so picture this. When it became the time for God the Father to place all the sin of the world onto His Son Jesus, He emptied the bucket of sin from Heaven right on Jesus. The shear volume of sin would be so vast that it spilled over the edges and covered the sun as well. Think how much sin must have been in that bucket, and also how completely dark sin is to act as a "flash dark," that it blocked the sun. As I write this, there was a total eclipse of the sun a few days ago, but while the moon may block the core of the sun it does not cause total darkness.
Jesus' death on the cross, in my place, took care of my sins. They have been plenty. If that wasn't cool enough, He did all this for yours as well. Not just those sins I committed prior to accepting His gift, but all those I have and will commit till I die. You must try to wrap your brain around this, He covered all "our" sins from Adam and Eve to the time He returns for His Church. I guess that is why the sun went dark, even the sun could not penetrate a darkness that dark.
In the Gospel of Matthew 25: 50-51 it says, "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His spirit. At that moment the curtain of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split."
I must return to my childhood now for another memory. As is normal for most boys, I used to collect rocks. Not just normal looking ones but "cool" ones mostly. Because I could not see what they looked like inside, I would take them and put them into a vice. I found that if I twisted the handle enough and put enough pressure on the rock, it would split open. Plus, it was safer that hitting it with a hammer. Pieces would fly everywhere and sometimes in windows. Oh, windows!
Think about it, the weight of the sin that was being poured out onto Jesus was not only darker than dark but so heavy that the earth could not bear the weight of it. The earth shook and rocks split open, but Jesus hung there between Heaven and earth, and withstood the weight of the sin. That is where I guess I differ most with the conventional way Jesus is portrayed in pictures. Most of them have him as a pale, sickly, rather defenseless kind of guy. I've also seen Him presented as a "Pope" ish character, you know, walking around always with the Halo. I just can't see my Jesus as being that way.
I picture Him as having rough and calloused hands yet tender enough to wipe the tears from a child that had just skinned his knee. He is man enough to protect women and children and even the outcasts of society from the "religious" folks and yet tender enough to heal the child of a military man just on the request of the father. If I were to paint a picture of Him I would have to give him kind eyes and an ever-ready smile. He would be very muscular and well tanned. His shoulders would be broad and able to handle the weight of the world and its sin.
I guess how you view Jesus will be colored by just how much you think you need Him. If you are all right with being a "good" person, then Easter can be about the bunny and egg hunts. I, on the other hand, am very aware of my need of Jesus. I look forward to this Easter more than I have in a very long time. In the past months I have seen many friends and family go on to Heaven. Easter and the celebration of Christ's resurrection is the guarantee of God's forgiveness. He is risen. He is risen indeed!
Have a Blessed Easter, your fellow servant in HIS service, Tim
e-mail: papaspipeline@aol.com
Tim Meyer lives in Florida and regularly contributes to Graceland through 'Inside Out'.