Was It All For Me?

Jesus, when you stumbled under the weight of the cross, was that the moment you felt the weight of my sin? Did you question the Father: “Her?”

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. – Isaiah 53:4

Jesus, when they cracked the whip and the metal shards pulled the skin off your back did you feel the pain of my hand as it spanked my child in anger.

He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. – Isaiah 53:5

Jesus, when the soldiers yelled and taunted you, did hear the sharp sting of my words as I talked down to my co-workers, siblings, parents, grandparents, husband and children?

He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. – Isaiah 53: 7

Jesus, when the crowd called out “Barabbas!” did you hear me go along with them rather than be identified with you?

He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. – John 1:0-11

Jesus, when they thrust the thorns into your brow, were you repulsed by the number of times I thought I deserved more, or better, or different than the things you had given me?

All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. – Isaiah 53:6

Jesus, when they drove the stake into your feet, did you experience the pain of my disobedience? Did you hear me defiantly say, “No, I won’t go there!”?

He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross. – 1 Peter 2:24

Jesus, when they nailed your hands to the cross, did you think about the times I refused to serve your children because I had other, better, things to do?

He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels. – Isaiah 53:12

Jesus, when the sky was dark, was it my sin that blocked the sun?

God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light. – John 3:19

Jesus, when you heard the scoffers, was it my voice you heard yelling out of control as I demanded obedience from my children?

He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. – Colossians 1: 20-21

Jesus, when you said, “It is finished!” were you revolted by my thoughts that I didn’t need a Savior or that I had good works to add to your completed atonement?

No one is righteous – not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away… – Romans 3:10-12 

Jesus, when you died, and they laid your body on the cold slab in the darkness of the tomb, did the weight of my guilt and shame press down upon you?

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” – Romans 5:8

Jesus, what can I do? What can I say? What can remove my sin?

“‘Come now, let us argue this out,’ says the Lord. ‘No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as Crimson, I can make you as white as wool.'” — Isaiah 1:18

Jesus, when you rose, when the tomb was discovered empty, did glory fill you to the fullest? Did you shine like the sun? Did your heart overflow with joy because the task was completed, victory was won?

“who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue shall acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.” – Philippians 2:6-11 NIV

Jesus, I think of you, my substitute, my God, and my salvation this wonderful Easter morning!

“God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.” – Hebrews 10:10

(All Scriptures are from the New Living Translation, unless otherwise marked)

*Previously published on 4/15/14.