Ewwwwwww. Gross!
“I can’t believe that they would pick on each other like that!” As the two kids were standing out in the chicken house, they couldn’t help but notice a poor little chicken being chased around the pen by all the other chickens. They had chased, cajoled, and pecked this smaller chicken until it was tired, featherless, and almost too weak to run anymore. The other chickens were relentless in their pursuit, refusing to let this poor little one find any retreat anywhere.
This little chicken was being persecuted for nothing it had or hadn’t done other than not being one of the other chickens.
Pigs will do the same thing. They will relentlessly pick on a small or injured pig until they torture and eventually kill it.
These are incredibly mean and vicious behaviours that we sometimes see in animals. Can you believe that people can act the same way?
This is the situation that Jesus found himself in during His persecution and crucifixion. He had been as meek as a lamb to all who knew him. But He was not one of them. He was chased, cajoled, and tortured mercilessly without lifting a hand to harm anyone.
Now He finds Himself nailed to a cross, naked, bleeding, and physically suffering beyond our knowledge. As He looks down from the cross he sees one more humiliation, they are casting lots to divide His clothes. The soldiers had already written Him off for dead and were dividing His last possessions. One more humiliation. They were relentless in their pursuit of Jesus until the very end.
As we look at the extreme suffering that Christ endured for us, it not only helps us understand what He went through. It also helps us to put our own lives into perspective. We realize that any hardship that we have pales in comparison to what Jesus went through, and we also realize that we can live our lives in the joy of hope and grace because of what He went through.
Let us live every day with the boldness of Christ who has been crucified and has risen to glory. Let His light shine through us, giving peace and hope to all, and bringing them closer to Him.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever, world without end.
-Stan Stoppenhagen
“I can’t believe that they would pick on each other like that!” As the two kids were standing out in the chicken house, they couldn’t help but notice a poor little chicken being chased around the pen by all the other chickens. They had chased, cajoled, and pecked this smaller chicken until it was tired, featherless, and almost too weak to run anymore. The other chickens were relentless in their pursuit, refusing to let this poor little one find any retreat anywhere.
This little chicken was being persecuted for nothing it had or hadn’t done other than not being one of the other chickens.
Pigs will do the same thing. They will relentlessly pick on a small or injured pig until they torture and eventually kill it.
These are incredibly mean and vicious behaviours that we sometimes see in animals. Can you believe that people can act the same way?
This is the situation that Jesus found himself in during His persecution and crucifixion. He had been as meek as a lamb to all who knew him. But He was not one of them. He was chased, cajoled, and tortured mercilessly without lifting a hand to harm anyone.
Now He finds Himself nailed to a cross, naked, bleeding, and physically suffering beyond our knowledge. As He looks down from the cross he sees one more humiliation, they are casting lots to divide His clothes. The soldiers had already written Him off for dead and were dividing His last possessions. One more humiliation. They were relentless in their pursuit of Jesus until the very end.
As we look at the extreme suffering that Christ endured for us, it not only helps us understand what He went through. It also helps us to put our own lives into perspective. We realize that any hardship that we have pales in comparison to what Jesus went through, and we also realize that we can live our lives in the joy of hope and grace because of what He went through.
Let us live every day with the boldness of Christ who has been crucified and has risen to glory. Let His light shine through us, giving peace and hope to all, and bringing them closer to Him.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever, world without end.
-Stan Stoppenhagen
Schnorr von Carolsfeld, woodcuts © WELS Permission to use these copyrighted items is limited to personal and congregational use.
No comments:
Post a Comment