The great cost of Sacrifice 

When someone knows they are going to die, they consider their words and actions carefully. There is no time for anything other than that which has profound significance. As Jesus entered His final week, knowing He was walking the road to Jerusalem for the last time, He did so with purpose. He knew the time had come and He would be offered as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In anticipation of celebrating Resurrection Sunday, I am reflecting on this final week of Jesus and considering the great cost of His Sacrifice.  

My living example  

A sacrifice is made when someone takes on a burden that should have been ours to bear so we don’t have to. I had a living example of this in my home. My parents sacrificed to send me to college. They grew up in the hollows of Kentucky where the primary trade was coal mining. Only they called them hollers. I was an adult before I realized the hollow in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving was the same thing as my Grandmom’s holler. Unlike Irving’s hollow, Grandmom’s holler was a place of family life and community. I remember my parents saying they didn’t realize how poor they were because everyone they knew was in the same boat. They didn’t watch television much and didn’t have a social media presence to pressure them into making comparisons. They helped one another through the hard days of living. Maybe they didn’t have much in the way of material possessions, but they had love. And they didn’t mind work.  

However, they both regretted not going to college. It was not emphasized or expected. My father dropped out of high school and enlisted in the Air Force. Afterward, he obtained his GED and went to trade school to become an electrician. He was very mechanically minded and did well to provide for his family. My mother had a full scholarship to a local college but didn’t go. Instead, she learned skills as an administrative assistant and worked the bulk of her career as an executive assistant in a metropolitan library.  

As my sisters and I were growing up, we knew we were going to college. It wasn’t if, but when. Our parents willingly sacrificed to make this happen. They loved Kentucky and always considered it their home but willingly moved to Columbus, Ohio to find better jobs, sometimes working multiple jobs to make our high school and college educations a reality. I used my college education to become a nurse. Even though I fell in love with the profession, I think I appreciate it more because of the sacrifice of my parents.  

This was a costly sacrifice but is only a small picture of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. I am deeply humbled as I consider what it cost my Lord and Savior to purchase my salvation. 

The Son of God became the Son of Man  

Last Summer and into the Fall, I studied Hebrews and learned much about my Savior’s sacrifice. In comparing Hebrews 2 with Philippians 2, I learned the Son of God left heaven as He chose to humble Himself and become the Son of Man who willingly gave Himself in my place as the sacrificial lamb needed to atone for my sins.  He tasted the suffering of death for everyone because our own death would prove insufficient. 

The Son of Man had to be made like His brothers in every respect so that He could become a merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of God. Up until then, a priest offered sacrifices to pay for the sins of the people and that is what satisfied God’s wrath. The Son of Man was not only the priest that offered the sacrifice, but also the sacrifice that was offered to atone for sin. It shows altogether how God’s justice and mercy can both be satisfied at the same time. Because He faced ongoing trials throughout His earthly life, our Great High Priest is sympathetic to our trouble and opposition and able to help us when satan’s purpose is our destruction. 

Sometimes it is hard to put words to the overwhelming emotion that arises as I contemplate this great salvation which includes grace in time of need, eternal life, intercession, and confidence to approach a Holy God. My response is to offer sincere gratitude with humility, especially as I consider His final week.  

Jesus spends His last hours teaching 

What would you do with your last hours on this earth? In his book, The Final Week of Jesus, Max Lucado highlights how Jesus spent much of His time in the temple teaching. In one of the parables, He compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. The invited guests rejected the invitation, so then anyone passing by on the highway was invited to come. The wedding clothes were supplied, preparations were made, and a feast was spread out before these commoners. When the king arrived to celebrate the marriage of his son, one of the guests purposely rejected the king’s provision. He said he accepted the invitation but then he refused to wear the wedding clothes. The spiritual imagery is one who professes to be a Christian but won’t admit his spiritual poverty and instead relies on the garments of self-righteousness, thus spurning the Son’s sacrifice. This is a horrible tragedy as God proclaims, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” And results in being separated from a Holy God forever. We cannot offer ourselves in place of what God freely gave. Only His Son’s Sacrifice is sufficient. 

Sunday is Coming! 

It may only be Tuesday, but Sunday is coming. In the process of destroying death, the Son of Man destroyed the one who had the power of death, namely the devil. Through His Resurrection, Jesus Christ triumphed over the devil and delivered us from his control. So that means God’s children do not have to fear death. He conquered the grave and the bondage to fear. Sometimes we forget and need reminded that to live in Christ means to live free and unencumbered by fear. God is faithful and His Son is here to help us.  

His Resurrection that day was a triumphant foretaste of His Return. As I picture myself at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb when Christ returns, I know I do not deserve an invitation. But I am welcomed, not as a common guest, but instead as a member of the Royal Family with all of the rights and privileges as a Daughter of the King. 

¹⁴Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 
Hebrews 2:14, 15 ESV