Every year sometime during the Easter season, I try to watch “The Passion of the Christ”. My husband thinks this is a gruesome tradition. But he doesn’t quite understand what I know.
You see, Jesus didn’t deserve to be beaten. He didn’t deserve to be crucified on a cross like a common criminal. He was (and IS) God after all.
I can try to convince myself that I’m a pretty good person, I’m not all that bad, I should deserve…. What I really deserve is punishment. Romans 3:23 reminds me that everyone has sinned, even me. And because I have sinned, I deserve the punishment that Jesus suffered.
So why do I watch that movie every year? Because it never ceases to amaze me that he allowed them to be that awful, so that he could fulfill the plan that would make it possible for me to have eternal life with him.Think about it. In Mathew 26:53-54, Jesus says “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”
He certainly didn’t have to. He knew exactly what would happen when he chose to come be one of us. But he loved us so much, that he chose to do this for us. And HE IS RISEN!!!
One of my favorite worship songs is called “Amazing Love”, it truly describes how I am feeling today:
I’m forgiven, because you were forsaken
I’m accepted, you were condemned
I’m alive and well, you’re spirit is within me
Because you died and rose again

I’m forgiven, because you were forsaken
I’m accepted, you were condemned
I’m alive and well, you’re spirit is within me
Because you died and rose again

Amazing love, how can it be
That you my king would die for me
Amazing love, I know it’s true
It’s my joy to honor you
Amazing love, how can it be
That you My king would die for me
Amazing love, I know it’s true
It’s my joy to honor you
In all I do I honor you

I’m forgiven, because you were forsaken
I’m accepted, you were condemned
I’m alive and well, you’re spirit is within me
Because you died and rose again