Palm Sunday April 13: DAILY BLOG: The Passion, Death, & Resurrection of Jesus Christ

With today being Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week, it is beneficial to have a daily blog focusing on the reason Jesus suffered, died, and rose.

The Passion, Death, & Resurrection of Jesus is the most significant event for the Christian.  We must apply DAILY Jesus’ Passion, Death, & Resurrection to our life.  If you neglect to bring this event into your everyday life, you will limit what the Holy Spirit plans to do through you.  Enjoy the meditations.

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Luke 18:31-34

Then He (Jesus) took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.  For He will be HANDED OVER to the Gentiles, and will be MOCKED and MISTREATED and SPIT UPON, and after they have SCOURGED Him, they will KILL Him, and the third day He will RISE again.”

But the disciples understood none of these and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said. 

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This part of Jesus’ life is the most written about in the gospels.  Many skeptics dispute the validity of the gospels because they say the gospel stories are quite different, especially the details.  I believe these are the same ones who would shout “collusion” if the gospel stories were exactly the same.  Yet, the same skeptics rarely notice or refuse to speak about the consistency of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in all four gospels.

The specific reason why Jesus became a man is now summed up.  Jesus’ entire purpose for living will always bring us to His passion, death, and resurrection.

Many will say good things about Jesus, that He was a good teacher, a wise philosopher, and a man of integrity.  However, few will say that His passion, death, and resurrection were necessary.  Fewer will even identify their own sufferings with Jesus’ sufferings, especially His death.

The cross brings everyone to the crossroads of their lives.  Everyone must make a personal choice about Jesus and His cross.  Nothing else about Jesus’ life and miracles matters in light of the cross.  What do you believe your choice is regarding Jesus and the cross?

In this chapter, we will do a thorough examination of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  The primary purpose is for you to see how you can apply them to your relationship with Jesus.

Never losing His attributes as God, Jesus became man to take on the sufferings of the entire world.  He bore the brunt of every sin.  God the Father placed all His anger and wrath against sin onto Jesus.  This is the realization we each must face.  Jesus took our place on the cross.  We deserved death, but Jesus took our place instead.  This is love in action.  What will we do about it?  Jesus invites us to share His passion in our daily lives.

We need to imagine the depths of the pain Jesus was experiencing.  One becomes moved when he recognizes the severity of Jesus’ sufferings on his behalf.  He realizes that he deserves the sufferings instead of Jesus.  The realization that his sins have grieved the heart of God penetrates his heart deeply.

He begins to realize that God deeply loves him.  He tries not to sin, and is successful at times.  However, he knows his willpower is limited and falls back into sinful ways.  His poor choices hurt many people, especially his family and close friends.  He becomes embarrassed and isolates himself from others.  The shame makes him a prisoner of his own heart.

That is what sin does to one’s heart.  Sin leaves the heart “naked and ashamed.”  One realizes he cannot stand “naked and ashamed” before a holy God.  He realizes more the significance of Jesus’ sufferings.  He realizes God wants him “naked and ashamed” so he can admit his nothingness.

His humility now permits Jesus to give him a brand new identity.  His grief is being turned into rejoicing and his sorrow into gladness.  He says, “Only a personal God, passionately in love with me, would reach down from heaven in the person of Jesus and die for my sins and shame.  Only a personal God can convince me to love Him in return, to give my life to Him.  I deeply love God and don’t want to grieve His heart any more with my sins.”

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