“Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.”
John 12:27
The palm-strewn parade is over. Jesus is facing imminent death by crucifixion at the hands of those who just cheered His arrival. He is God and yet He is so completely human it is as if He were not divine. His human body feels as does ours. He shares the impact of emotion as we do—that’s the point of the Incarnation.
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities…” (Hebrews 4:15)
He is not cold, aloof, or far away—He feels. He is about to be humiliated, beaten, and crucified, and He knows it. It’s not just a feeling this might happen, it is certain knowledge. To say His soul was troubled may be an understatement.
He is so human there is a real temptation to ask the Father to rescue Him and spare Him the pain. There is also a desire to do His duty and thus fulfill His purpose in life. The desire wins. He came to do something no one else could do—be humbly obedient to God in His fleshly, earth-bound life as an example to all who would follow Him.
Life is a struggle with the curse humanity bears. Pain and pleasure, heartbreak and joy, betrayal and fidelity, obedience, and defiance are issues we are meant to experience as the means of crafting a unique eternal personality. That is why we are here and maybe the entire purpose of the creation we know.
It is not the business of God to rescue us from experiencing life—even from the parts that hurt. It may be that those who seek to escape every trial and pain are, in fact, fighting against God’s purpose. That is not to say that we should throw up our hands, sing Que Sera, Sera, and indifferently float along on whatever comes. God's will is for us to be active, willing partners in His design.
Fate, destiny, whatever you choose to call the future course of life, is known by God. He sees our choices and gives us the freedom to make them. Save me, from what? my life? from my reason to exist?
No, rather Lord save me from the temptation to seek escape from Your will. Jesus in connection with the words that began this blog said, “Now is the judgment of this world”. The world and all that is in it shall be judged by the standard of His obedient choice of the will of God over escape.
“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for me...Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—To do Your will O, God.” (Hebrews 10:5-7)
We have all come to this hour, no matter what it brings, to choose what kind of person we are to become. Choose wisely.
Maranatha
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