My Savior Died for Me

Any God loving Christian knows that this weekend is considered Passion Weekend.  It's the weekend we celebrate the sacrifice Christ made for us so that we may live eternally with Him in heaven.  Easter is my most favorite of holidays.  Not because you get to dye eggs or you get a visit from the Easter Bunny but rather because it is a time for me to be renewed and reflect on the death of my Savior for me.  Yet death did not stop him, for three days later, he ascended into heaven. 

Every year as we enter this season, I am in awe of my God.  I could not imagine what it must have been like to watch your son be treated the way he was.  I look at my son and the very thought of him being picked on, spit on, slapped, beaten, hurt, it just breaks my heart.  I'm his mother, I want to protect him.  Yet, God let Christ's crucifixtion happen.  I couldn't imagine being Mary and sitting at the feet of my son as he hung on that cross.  I'm in tears just writing this.

Matthew and I recently watched the movie, The Passion of the Christ.  I'll be honest, when it was first released several years ago, I refused to watch it.  I didn't want to see it.  I wasn't ready to face the reality of what had happened.  And with Matthew being so young, he wasn't ready either.  But last week, it just felt like it was time to live through the pain Christ suffered.  The entire movie was in another language and so Matthew and I had to read the subtitles but I can honestly tell you, you didn't need to understand what they were saying to know what was happening.  I was concerned with Matthew's reaction to the graphic scences.  I was prepared for questions after we watched it.  Matthew sat without moving a muscle during the entire movie.  I'm not even sure he blinked.  I sat there like a weeping child, hurting for my Lord.  I wanted to reach through the tv and make them stop flogging Jesus.  I wanted to nurse his wounds.  I wanted the Roman Soldiers to stop mocking him.  Yet, in the back of my mind, I knew that God already had this played out.  God knew how and why and when these things would happen.  Jesus knew.  It is listed only one time in the Bible where Jesus drops to his knees in prayer and it's because Jesus hurt for what he had to do.

He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,  “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.  And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.  Luke 22:41-44.

Have you ever prayed so hard for anything that sweat fell off you like drops of blood falling to the ground?  Have you ever been in such anquish that an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened you?  I could never imagine the pain that God must have felt knowing that his son was asking for a change and yet, God's will had to be done.

As we enter into this passion weekend, I hope that you will take time to remember the sacrifice Christ made for you.  I hope that you will take a moment of pause to realize that Christ felt every bit of pain he endured so that we may live eternally.  Christ was without sin and yet, he suffered because of our sin. 

He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.  Isaiah 53:7

 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. Luke 23:44-46


Jesus was obedient even while being mocked.  Jesus was obedient even while being beaten.  Jesus was obedient even while being nailed to the cross.  Jesus trusted his Father with his last breath.  Jesus endured all of this for us.  His blood has made us white as snow.

“Come now, let us settle the matter,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.  Isaiah 1:18


And with that...Jesus arose into heaven.  Jesus fulfilled the scriptures just as it had been written by God. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,  but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.  In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:  ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”  Then they remembered his words. Luke 24:1-8

That my beloved friends is reason to celebrate this Easter.  It is reason to trust in God's promises.  It is reason to be obedient.  It is reason to drop to your knees and pray.  Pray to a God who hears his children and loves them so much that he would sacrifice his only son. 

May the peace of Christ's love and sacrifice be with you during this Easter season.  And if you haven't already claimed him as your Lord and Savior who died for you, may you be obedient and bold and join me in the light of Christ for there is no other place I would rather be.