Today was unusual to say the least. John Stryder had a bad day. My son who is usually very jovial was miserable. It may have been because we stayed out late last night, but he still got up at the same time this morning. It may be because he’s teething. Regardless of the reason, today John Stryder was not his ordinary happy self.

Danny and I decided to put him to bed an hour earlier than normal. As I rocked him my heart broke. Even though I knew it was impossible I desperately wanted to take the misery from him. Tears came to my eyes but I refused to let them fall. I did not want my little one to be more distressed by me being upset. I rocked him and prayed for him. My heart desired to pray words of comfort. I wanted desperately for the Lord to drive away his pain, and give him quick restful sleep.

As I prayed a song that my church sings came to my mind. This song is often in my mind and one line in particular always speaks to me: “such a tiny offering compared to Calvary”. I’m sure you know this song. I always think of my son as “the tiny offering”.

This song reminds me of the offering of Isaac in Genesis 22. I honestly don’t know how Abraham did it. I’d like to think that if God told me, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, John Stryder, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I tell you.” that I would be obedient to the Lord. I’d like to think that I’d do it willingly, out of faith, out of love for our Lord. But I don’t know how quickly I’d react. I don’t know how big of an argument Danny and I would get into before I’d relent and give up my John Stryder.

God released Abraham of this after He saw Abraham’s faithfulness. However, He did not release Himself from sacrificing His only Son. When Jesus was baptized the Lord showed the love He had for His Son as a dove descended and a voice from Heaven was heard “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3: 17).  The Lord continued to watch as His Son ministered to people on earth. He watched as Jesus became a popular miracle worker.  He was also there when the tide began to turn and Jesus’ popularity plummeted. The Father was not deaf to the venomous whispers and loathing shouts of hatred towards His Son. When Jesus was in Gethsemane and prayed “Father if you are willing remove this cup from Me, yet not My will, but Yours be done,” God was listening. When Jesus’ prayers became so impassioned that He suffered from hematohidrosis (Luke 22:44) God was there and He could have called the whole thing off. But He continued to watch as His son was betrayed and denied by His followers (Luke 22:47-61). God was there when Herod and his soldiers treated his Son with contempt and mocked Him (Luke 23:8-12). The Father looked on as Pilate sought Jesus’ release and the crowds cried out for Jesus to be tortured instead (Luke 23:13-25). He was also there when Jesus was crucified between two criminals (Luke 23:33-49).  He heard the prayers of Jesus as He hung upon the cross (Luke 23:34, Mark 15:34, Luke 23:46). It causes me physical pain to think about God’s love for us under these circumstances. I ask our Lord, “How?”.

How? For a good friend I might suffer. For my husband I might give my life. But if you asked me to give my John Stryder for people that hate me, curse my name, and abuse my friends – I’d think you were crazy. Amazingly, that’s just what our Lord did. Just read this verse: “While we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son…” (Romans 5:10a). Enemies! God gave the world His Son and for a while we looked on with interest. As long as Jesus played our game by performing miracles we were entertained. But then He started preaching, and His preaching was difficult. Sometimes His teachings even contradicted our traditions. Eventually the world tired of Him. Then the Darling of Heaven was mocked, tortured, and killed.

I look at my baby who I love and I recall Luke 11:13: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” If I being evil want to take this pain from my son, how much more did the Lord want to relieve Jesus’ pain? And unlike me, God could have relieved His Son from pain. The story of the human race would have been very different, but at least the Lamb of God would have been spared. But God in his infinite love could not bear to be without His creation. I don’t understand the kind of love that God has for us. But I do know that His love is so powerful that He could endure Jesus’ life, torture, and death to be with us.

Though I cannot imagine what the Lord went through that day, I realize that the Lord knew what it was like to watch His only son suffer. As I put John Stryder in the bed and caressed his little head I thanked God for His lesson in theology.

Tags: Uncategorized

This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 10:45 PM and is filed under Featured, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.