Friday is here! The day my Jesus was tried, mocked, ridiculed, beaten, tortured is here!
When it gets to getting picked last, my Jesus knows the feeling better than I’ll ever know; because when it came down to choosing to crucify the man they’d seen heal the sick, raise the dead, walk on water, cast out demons or the man who had been imprisoned for serious crimes, the crowds chose my Jesus.
He would have been in the Garden of Gethsemane last night.
He would have been praying to God to come and save him, to find another way and intervene so He didn’t have to die.
And this morning , the Romans would be showing up to take Him to His death. So I’m thinking about Jesus in one of the most human moments he had while on this earth – because isn’t that so human?
Asking God to give us what we want? To change the situation? To take away the pain and help us breathe?
I wonder what Jesus followers must have been pleading with God about, for the man they thought will surely free them from Roman rule.
Think back to all the times you’ve pleaded and wrestled with God about something; begging for the pain to be taken away, begging for boldness and for him to give you courage, begging for something to be true when the alternative would have broken your heart, even begging him to make it somewhere on time.
What I love about Jesus is He already knows this truth from Ephesians. “To him who is able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or imagine”
He was able to ask God the desires of His heart with open hands and a lose grip on His hopes. He could see the other side of His wants, His needs and His pain, and He saw God standing there; so He wipes His tears.
He got up and walked into his pain.
I don’t know what you’re asking God for today, or what you’ve been asking him every single night, or what you’re asking him at 4 am when you can’t sleep.
But don’t stop asking. Don’t stop asking and don’t hold on too tight.
Jesus would never have risen in victory and defeated death if He hadn’t walked to the cross. You never know what is waiting for you just over the hill of what God isn’t giving you yet.
We’re asking for healing and He is planning on victory!
