This Sunday I’m preaching on the last attribute (in this summer sermon series) of God, “He is Love.” Something happens to me whenever I get to preach, especially during the preparation time. It’s as though God shows me things I’ve read but never actually seen before. Case in point: the love of God that caused Him to sacrifice His only Son on our behalf. When I was a child and thought like a child, this seemed like a big thing for Christ to do. When I became a parent and thought like a parent, this seemed like an impossible sacrifice for God to make. How can you sacrifice a child? Now that I’m a grandparent and think like a grandfather, it’s even more mind boggling at what God did in sending Jesus.

 

Today, in my study time, I saw something new (to me). Hebrews 5:7 reads, “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.” Oh my goodness! I’ve read/preached about His night in the Garden of Gethsemane. Luke tells us, “And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.” (Luke 22:44) A great battle of the will was taking place in the Garden the night before He was arrested. Somehow reading of his “prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears” gave me a new perspective on Christ’s approach to His sacrifice. Jesus wanted to avoid the cross. He really, really, really wanted to avoid the cross. God heard His prayers and, while not actually turning a deaf ear to Jesus, rejected His plea. HOW DO YOU TELL YOUR ONLY SON THAT YOU HEARD HIS REQUEST TO BE SPARED FROM A HORRENDOUS DEATH AND STILL DENY HIS REQUEST MADE WITH LOUD CRYING AND TEARS?!?!? This was a grown man who had encountered much during His time on earth and was crying.

 

God told Him “no” and Jesus obeyed out of love—for you and me. WOW!!!!! In spite of how much God loved (and loves) His Son, His love for you and me drove Him to tell Jesus to—well, probably didn’t tell Him to suck it up and take it like a man—consider what the sacrifice would mean to millions of humans. So Jesus got up from His prayer rock, met the oncoming soldiers, and willing went to the cross. He did this all for you and me. Folks, this is some kind of love. I can’t wait to tell you more about it Sunday.