“They did not realize he was the Son of God.”

One of our pastors preached on the gospel this morning. It was a beautiful and powerful message, as any true presentation of the gospel will be. He was talking about how Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane was deserted, how even his three closest friends did not stay awake to pray with him in his darkest moment of need. As a man facing the cross, Jesus prayed out of his humanity’s weakness, anguishing, asking God if there was any other way for redemption to be fulfilled; but if there was not, he affirmed he was surrendered to God’s will, not his. God did not answer Jesus’ prayer that night in the garden. The cross was the only way, and though Scripture tells us that Jesus could have at any moment called twelve legions of angels to rescue him, he did not. Jesus allowed himself to be forsaken by God that I might not be, that you might not be. He watched the very people he created, loved and came to redeem scream out, “Crucify him!” He watched his closest companions and friends run away in fear when he was wrongly accused. He didn’t have to, but yet he went to the cross, to redeem them, to redeem us – so great is His love toward us! 1 John 4:10,19 - "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ... We love because he first loved us."

I was struck very deeply this morning about the reality of who I would be likened to in that story. I know all too well in my heart that I too would have fled in a moment, because I see so clearly in my life today how I still flee in those moments. My actions often show that I am still ashamed of the gospel, ashamed of the shame my Lord bore, that I also am unwilling to give all to follow in His footsteps, no matter the cost. I still love my reputation and my freewill more than my Saviour, who I claim I love one moment, but desert the next. That’s why this morning when my pastor said of the Jews that they crucified him because “they did not realize he was the Son of God”, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I too often do not realize that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Most High God. I forget the high cost of what he gave for me, and am so quick to take it lightly because of its familiarity.

In communion this morning God impressed upon my mind a visual image of how to this day I forget Jesus is the Son of God and slap him often in the face as though his sacrifice was little to me. Every time the Spirit whispers, or the Word presses upon me to obey God, and I instead choose my own way, my own desires, my own will, I have effectually slapped my Lord’s face and said, “My way, not yours!” When it doesn't cost me more than I think it should, I stick with Jesus with all the fire and gumption of Peter when he claimed he’d die for Jesus if it came to it; but in the moment of testing, I cower and hide. I am no better than the disciples who ran, Peter who denied, or the Jews who spat on Him.

Paul says in Romans 1:16a – “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” Oh that I might not forget that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who bore the weighty punishment for my sin that I might have a relationship with God - one that is as intimate and lovely as any relationship imaginable. May I not forgot that his shame, his cross, purchased my very life because He loves me! How can I, knowing this, refuse to face the possible shame I might incur in this world if I stand for Him? Because the truth is, that cross did not just cause the Son of God’s death – He also ROSE, conquering sin and the grave once and for all, that now anyone who trusts in Jesus as His Saviour has eternal life. Jesus is the Living One, the Son of God, my Saviour, my Friend. He is with me this moment as real as this computer is to me. This is not just some belief system, some religion or a lifestyle I hold to. The gospel message is truth, it is reality - not mere story, fable or conjecture. Jesus Christ the Son of God is alive and He is my Saviour. My life – words, actions, attitudes, all! – ought to scream of this! I will never be ashamed of the gospel when I strive to remember every moment with the deepest recollection that the good news of what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross truly is “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes!”