What do you think he’s doing??
It seems strange to be looking at the crucifixion the week before Advent.
But such is life and faith and the meaning of what Jesus was all about – it comes full circle.
One of the criminals hanging on the cross next to Jesus challenges him, “Save yourself and us”. That of course is what Jesus is doing.
The Colossians reading points us to the truth, that
Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God
Jesus, the one whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, whose death we commemorate on Good Friday, whose resurrection we rejoice in on Easter morning, is God.
God wanted to show human beings how to live, so he sent his son. Some sons have some of the characteristics of one or other of their parents, others don’t, but Jesus came into the world having “the full nature of God”. He wasn’t just like God – he was God in human form. He could point us to God, because he carried that within him. What Jesus did, is what God would do. What is said, is what God had to say. His teachings were God’s words.
The world gets caught up in darkness, God wants to bring the world back to himself.
When Jesus died on the cross, that was what he was doing. Bringing peace to the world, saving us, restoring the link between earth and heaven.
Jesus came to show us all that God is, and all that we could be. He lived a human life to show that God understands. And when we still couldn’t get it right, he did what he could to make it right. He took the pain and cruelty of himself upon himself.
Who of us, if we see our children suffering, don’t want to carry that pain ourselves? That’s what God did. He carried that pain on the cross – he didn’t save himself, but he did save us.
Pam's Perambulation 