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APRIL 2, 2010
CONDEMNATION/DECLARATION
When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they
were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54, NIV)
And on this day, they led Jesus to His crucifixion.
But who were they?
They were the chief priests and religious leaders who had
orchestrated His condemnation and judgment. Their hearts were fully set against Jesus as the promised Savior of God’s prophets, for their minds were fully set on their own positions, both
theological and hierarchical.
They were the Roman soldiers, pawns in religio-political
game. They knew their business well, bloody as it was. They were the strong men in a regime advanced by brute force, so they applied the rules thuggishly, as was necessary according to their superiors,
all the way up to the Caesar.
They were the women in tears. His mother, Mary Magdalene, the
women who lined the streets, crying out blessings upon Him.
They were a foreign man, Simon, plucked from the crowd to
carry the cross when Jesus could no longer stand under its weight. Jesus, the servant, served in His final hour by a man, a Gentile no less, strangely swept up in the proceedings of the moment.
They were a lone one of the Twelve, John. The rest has
scattered in fear or confusion or both. John, compelled by the love of His Lord, stayed through it all, the continuing witness among them.
In a glance at them all, we might find blood on the hands of some, mercy in the eyes of others. But they were not innocent, not one. Like you and me, they all were sons of Adam, daughters of
Eve. Their sin, our sin, put Jesus on the cross. Their hearts, our hearts condemned Him.
But in the throes of his death, at least one man cried out. A Roman executioner! It was this man who looked upon Jesus
and declared what the others in their shock and dismay could not: “This man was no ordinary man at all. This man was the Son of God.”
Christ died for God, that we might be fully restored to the Father. Christ did what we could not do for ourselves, not
in the least. Our hearts condemned not only Jesus; they condemned us. But in the awesome work of that awful week, Jesus undid all that in His dying. Jesus made us God’s again.
--
Jeff Hopper
April 2, 2010
Copyright 2010 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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