As you read the following passage, don't let the crucifixion be something that is familiar. Let it be as is you have never heard it before and see what happens….
"The face that Moses had begged to see-was forbidden to see-was slapped bloody (Exodus 33:19-20). The thorns that God had sent to curse the earth's rebellion now twisted around his own brow….
'On your back with you!' One raises a mallet to sink the spike. But the soldier's heart must continue pumping as he readies the prisoner's wrist. Someone must sustain the soldier's life minute by minute, for no man has power on his own. Who supplies breath to his lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only by the Son do "all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). The victim wills that the soldier live on-he grants the warriors continued existence. The man swings.
As the man swings, the Son recalls how He and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human forearm-the sensations it would be capable of. The design proves flawless-the nerves perform exquisitely. 'Up you go!' They lift the cross. God is on display in his underwear and can scarcely breathe.
But these pains are a mere warm-up to his other and growing dread. He begins to feel a foreign sensation. Somewhere during this day an unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around His nose, but His heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon his spotless being-the living excrement from our souls. The apple of His Father's eye turns brown with rot.
His Father! He must face His Father like this!
From heaven the Father now rouses Himself like a lion disturbed, shakes His mane, and roars against the shriveling remnant of a man hanging on a cross. Never has the Son seen the Father look at Him so, never felt even the least of His hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and darkens the visible sky. The Son does not recognize these eyes.
'Son of Man! Why have you behaved so? You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped-mudered, envied, hated, lied. You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten-fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled, and blasphemed. Oh, the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned! Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled My Name? Have you ever held your razor tongue? What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk-you, who molest young boys, peddle killer drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your parents. Who gave you the boldness to rig elections, foment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons? Does the list never end! Splitting families, raping virgins, acting smugly, playing the pimp-buying politicians, practicing extortion, filming pornography, accepting bribes. You have burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics, founded false religions, traded in slaves-relishing each morsel and bragging about it all. I hate, loathe, these things in you! Disgust for everything about you consumes me! Can you not feel My wrath?'
Of course the Son is innocent. He is blamelessness itself. The Father knows this. But the divine pair have an agreement, and the unthinkable must now take place. Jesus will be treated as if personally responsible for every sin ever committed.
The Father watches as His heart's treasure, the mirror image of Himself, sinks down into raw, liquid sin. Jehovah's stored rage against humankind from every century explodes in a single direction.
'Father! Father! Why have you forsaken me?!'
But heaven stops its ears. The Son stares up at the One who cannot, who will not, reach down or reply.
The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled Him. The Father rejected the Son whom He loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted His sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished."
from When God Weeps
Joni Eareckson Tada
When I first read this passage, I literally burst into tears. Ask Candice Carr. She was sitting right next to me on the bus in Taiwan when I read this. I have never seen myself in that light before that moment. I had never seen myself on the same level as some of those listed in this list that Tada so wonderfully put together. I also never really realized how the Father sees sin. Of course this passage doesn't even touch how the Father truly feels because we can't even comprehend it, but it did give me some insight as to just how God sees our sin. Granted this isn't Scripture and all things should be tested against Scripture, but some people do have a gift at expressing things in a manner such as this. "But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed." Isaiah 53:5 "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21 "Oh what love is this, that His death was in His plan?" (Mystery, Selah) I thank and praise my Creator for that undeserved love. I cannot understand why He, the Sovereign King of the Universe, would love me to begin with, but He does!!!
