How could they bind those Hands that always served, always healed (had JUST healed their own servant’s severed ear), always altered lives with just a touch?  How?  How could they look into His eyes that expressed only love for them and abuse Him so cruelly?  They couldn’t; they blind-folded Him.

My heart aches.  My stomach turns.  The harsh reality of these moments is not easy to think about.  Sin is complicated and ugly and brutal.  No one but our Savior could stand in that gap for us.  But beyond all human suffering, unfathomable as it is, “forsaken by God!”  A beloved Son who was always in communion with His Father, separated from God by my sin, enduring the wrath of a righteous and holy God against my sin…  “Forsaken by God,” is something I will never know because of what Jesus did for me.

There really are no words – just awe & wonder … and sorrow.  The details of that scene are staggering.  It is hard to linger in these thoughts, but I don’t want to brush past them either.  It is in this sorrow that I can appreciate more fully how much Jesus loves me, how much He loves His Father, what obedience to His Father and love for me cost Him.  I hold out to Him only feeble expressions of a heart touched and overflowing with gratitude.

And as I hold deeply to that gratitude, may He help me to step into His joy in “It is FINISHED!” and “He is RISEN, just as He said!” ~ My Lord Jesus, I thank You and praise You – it’s Friday… and … Sunday’s coming!!!

Let us fix our eyes on JESUS, Who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, securing eternal redemption for us. – Hebrews 12:2, 9:12

Read more here!  Luke 22 – John 19 – Matthew 27 & 28 – Psalm 22