Choosing to Remember

I wake up, sleeping too long and yet not ready to get up.  I wonder why we call this day Good.  I wonder what Jesus was thinking as He tried to get out of bed that morning.  It is a Friday that took the Most High, gave him an unfair trial, and hung Him up to die.  Calling this day good always wigs me out a bit.  And then I remember that God's definition of good doesn't always match up with my own.  Thankfully, we can call this Friday Good because we have the knowledge of what happened in just two more days.

Hindsight is 20/20 and we know Resurrection is on the way.

But, still I let myself remember.  I don't want to forget that He was willing to surrender and drink from the cup His Abba had handed over.  I want to remember the rejection of His closest friends.  I think of Pilate saying over and over again that He finds no basis for a charge against Jesus and how he tried to sway the mob's opinions, but finally caved. 

I choose to envision the flogging, beating, prickly crown of thorns piercing his scalp, and robe clinging to his fresh wounds.  I can see the sign that Pilate had fastened to the cross that read Jesus of Nazareth, THE King of the Jews.  I can see the hatred in the Jewish mob's eyes as they try to get Pilate to change the sign.

I read it fresh this year...at the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden.  I think of gardens and God as Master Gardener and how His pruning and scattering seems so harsh and yet tender all at the same time.

And then I laugh as I see Mary Magdelene's eyes fall upon the risen Lord and think He is the gardener.  Of course, He is the Gardener, I muse.

I reflect on some of His final words to those who saw him after the resurrection, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."  I marvel at His grace in allowing me to believe...in allowing me to be blessed.

My heart soars when I read in John 15:11.  "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."  "Full" in Greek is "pleroo" and said something like play-raw'-oh.  It means to cram.

He came to the earth, gave up his own life, and rose again to restore us to the Father.

To cram us up with joy.

God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus

He came to love, heal and forgive

He lived and died to buy my pardon

An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives!