I am currently re-watching The Chosen, a series about the life of Jesus. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out. There have been 2 seasons thus far, and they’re releasing season 3 soon. It’s freely available on YouTube and already has had nearly 400 million views. It’s that good, and it brings Jesus to life in a way I’ve never seen on screen. He’s a frequently laughing, joyful Jesus who dances at weddings and jokes with His followers. The show does an outstanding job of showing His humanity and His divinity.
The episode that really got my attention showed Jesus making a fire. He was using a basic flint stick, which looked pretty labor-intensive. He didn’t get it on the first try, but He eventually coaxed a tiny flame out of a lot of effort. Such a simple act, but so poignant. The Creator of the Universe, the One who said, “Let there be light,” limiting Himself to starting a fire with a flint stick. It made me love Him even more.
But as I’m watching the Jesus who starts fires by hand and plays with children, I’ve realized there is no way I will be able to watch the episodes depicting His crucifixion. He’s become too dear to me to be able to watch Him being beaten and nailed to a cross. This has given me a whole new appreciation for how devastating that first Good Friday must have been for those who loved Him.
Something about Easter week, especially Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, reminds me how wonderful He really is. To think it was all part of God’s plan to reunite Himself to His broken creation is hauntingly beautiful. The Bible says Jesus humbled Himself. When I think about His human face and the limitations He placed on Himself, I understand what that means. He humbled Himself in His earthly life and then allowed His creation to kill Him. All so He could save us. So, at its core, the cross, as brutal and ugly as it is, is an invitation to life with God.
Romans 5:7-8 in The Passion Translation says this, “Now, would anyone dare to die for the sake of a wicked person? We can all understand if someone was willing to die for a truly noble person. But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!”
Would anyone dare die for a wicked person? If you’re a person like me, that hits like a ton of bricks. I was that wicked person. I was lost and ungodly. However, apart from Him, I don’t care how noble you are, you are lost and ungodly, as well. And that’s not an insult; it’s our natural state apart from Him. We can’t know our purpose and value until we meet the One who created us with purpose and value.
In closing, I want to share the words Jesus spoke to a Pharisee named Nicodemus who was seeking truth. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
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