Hello Grace!
I look forward to gathering tomorrow outside under the big tent and sharing the Lord's supper together. We will be focusing on the Father's love for us as we remember the sacrifice that Jesus made.
By any standards, Jesus did not have a comfortable life. A prophet is not acceptable in his hometown, so they ran him out. “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”When he came to his own, his own people did not receive him. Jesus knew the experience of rejection. He was betrayed by one of his closest followers. In a matter of days, the chants from the crowd went from “Hosanna” to “Crucify Him!”
Jesus was not unfamiliar with abandonment. His personal acquaintance was Grief. His friend was named Sorrow. Isaiah got it right when he foretold that Jesus was “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” The rejection was constant and contrived. At each stop, there was a trick, a trap or an ambush. He was mocked, spat upon, beaten, bruised and nailed. The pain of rejection hurts worse than any blow to the body. He was lifted up and hung high on the cross for all to see.
The humiliation was public; the rejection was personal. But the worst part of the whole experience was the pain of being separated from His Father. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” For the first and only time in all of eternity, God the Father and the Son were separated. The Son was abandoned by the Father because of sin, but not the Son’s sin, for Jesus was tempted like us, yet without sin. Jesus was forsaken by His father because of our sin. The Father laid on the Son the iniquity of us all. How deep the Father’s love for us.
The pain had a purpose. The rejection had a reason. Affection under control. No risk at all. Laying down his life for us. This was an unreckless love. This is the Father's love we will remember together tomorrow.
Hope you can be there.
-Pastor John H
I look forward to gathering tomorrow outside under the big tent and sharing the Lord's supper together. We will be focusing on the Father's love for us as we remember the sacrifice that Jesus made.
By any standards, Jesus did not have a comfortable life. A prophet is not acceptable in his hometown, so they ran him out. “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”When he came to his own, his own people did not receive him. Jesus knew the experience of rejection. He was betrayed by one of his closest followers. In a matter of days, the chants from the crowd went from “Hosanna” to “Crucify Him!”
Jesus was not unfamiliar with abandonment. His personal acquaintance was Grief. His friend was named Sorrow. Isaiah got it right when he foretold that Jesus was “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” The rejection was constant and contrived. At each stop, there was a trick, a trap or an ambush. He was mocked, spat upon, beaten, bruised and nailed. The pain of rejection hurts worse than any blow to the body. He was lifted up and hung high on the cross for all to see.
The humiliation was public; the rejection was personal. But the worst part of the whole experience was the pain of being separated from His Father. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” For the first and only time in all of eternity, God the Father and the Son were separated. The Son was abandoned by the Father because of sin, but not the Son’s sin, for Jesus was tempted like us, yet without sin. Jesus was forsaken by His father because of our sin. The Father laid on the Son the iniquity of us all. How deep the Father’s love for us.
The pain had a purpose. The rejection had a reason. Affection under control. No risk at all. Laying down his life for us. This was an unreckless love. This is the Father's love we will remember together tomorrow.
Hope you can be there.
-Pastor John H
Posted in The Greeting