SIMPLE TRUTHS â—½ ENCOURAGEMENT
Acquainted
by Marcy Lytle
Why did Jesus have to die such a cruel, brutal death? I mean, I know he had to be the perfect sacrifice and sinless in order to be our savior, but if death was required…why couldn’t he just have had a quick fall asleep-type death, where his heart stopped, no pain, done and won?
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Do you ever wonder about odd things like this? I have a mind that wonders about a lot of things. And after losing my family member to pancreatic cancer, and the horrific time he had physically battling this disease that is from hell, we’ve all wondered why. Why such horrible diseases have to take our loved ones. Why such tragedy strikes or why death has to be so painful in the end. I think we’d admit that we’d all like to have a fall asleep-type death, and we’d like our loved ones to live to be at least 90, and then have the same.
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After a lot of thinking, here’s one thing I’ve noted. No matter what kind of death is inflicted upon us by this world, He had it the worst. He was beaten, betrayed, tortured, ridiculed, suffered pain, and ultimately had his Father turn his back on him, as he carried the weight of sin on his shoulders…the weight of the entire world. So when we need someone that understands our grief, He does.
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​So once again, like the story goes, God’s love is beyond understandable. He came to die for us, but also to suffer so that he would be “acquainted” with our grief. This means he has knowledge firsthand of our pain, our sorrow and our deep, deep hurt.
I’m thinking that Jesus could have chosen a different death. At least the Word says he even could have called angels to rescue him (or is that in a song somewhere? I don’t recall.) But he chose to obey his father and succumb to the worst kind of suffering any of us can dream up for ourselves. Those that said they loved him started the pain with betraying him and denying that they ever knew him. And then the slaps, the assaults, the mockery and the nails…on my goodness…the nails. I can’t even…
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I’m not sure we will ever understand why this one over here had cancer, has treatment, and lives a full live afterwards winning the battle…and why that one over there is literally beaten up and destroyed by the disease. It’s a hard thing to try and wrap our minds around.
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However, when I think of His great love that he poured out on me in offering himself to suffer and have the knowledge of the suffering I would have in this world, it offers me hope that I can also experience and become acquainted with what happened three days later…the resurrection.
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I remember a friend of mine losing her husband years ago and wondering if the joy in life would ever return. I believe it will. But it won’t be the kind of joy we knew before the pain, like joy over a new home or even a new baby in the house. It will be this deep rooted joy that’s unspeakable, full of glory. And guess what glory means? The weight of his presence. And I’m thinking his presence will be more real than it ever has been before, more fulfilling than anything in this world, and able to carry us all back to life…after death.