Preparing for Easter: Christ's Sacrifice for All
Today’s Reading: Matthew 27:32-56
I remember what it was like to hear Matthew 27:32-56 read to me for the first time. I am fairly sure I had heard it before but now my ears were actually listening, and my heart was ready to receive what my ears were hearing. I was 16 years old when someone shared with me just how much God loved me that He sent his one and only son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross for me that I might be forgiven of my sin and given a right relationship with God.
I was sitting in a room full of students who, just like me, were broken and searching for life. The room was quiet, and all attention was on what was being shared from the stage. We all heard, some for the very first time like me, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We were told that Jesus, when he was hanging on the cross, had my name, “Russell Lawrence Brasher” on his heart and mind. That Jesus could have, at any moment, decided to not go through the pain, could have chosen to listen to the men mocking him, or commanded an army of angels to come down and save him from all of this… But instead, he chose to die that I might live! Hearing the Good News of the Gospel that night forever changed my life! It was on that night that I decided to believe in Jesus and begin a relationship with God.
Matthew 27:32-56, to this day, still brings me back to that night. It does not matter how many times I have read this passage, how many times I have preached on it, sat in rooms, and listened to others share about it, watched YouTube sermon jams about it... The passage, every single time, reminds me of two things: How sinful and broken I am, yet how deeply the Father loves me. It brings tears to my eyes, even as I write this blog, to know that God would go to such great lengths just to save me and give me life.
My hope and prayer are that as you read these verses today you might come to know in your heart that “This is Jesus, The King of the Jews” … He is the king of Israel! Jesus, knowing what really needed to happen so that you and I could have life, chose to do the opposite of what the people wanted him to do in verse 42. By Jesus choosing to stay nailed to a cross so that we WILL BELIEVE IN HIM and by believing in Him not suffer the same punishment for our sin.
May these verses remind you, amid all that is happening in the world around us, that “Surely He [Jesus] was the Son of God! That all who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life! This is something every believer needs to be reminded of often and this is the reason we look forward to celebrating Easter in the days to come!
Take some time today to pray. Pray and ask God to forgive you of your sins. Pray and ask Him to ignite a fire in your heart for Him for the first time or reignite a flame that might be flickering or gone out completely. Pray that we do not let the greatest love story ever told and the most successful rescue mission ever tried get old to our souls. Pray and ask God to provide you with opportunities this week to share His story with those around you.
