Transcript
Speaker: The following podcast is a Jill Devine Media production. Christianity has become known for judgy people, strange words, ancient stories, confusing rules, and a members -only mindset. This is why I stayed away from the church for so long, but it's not supposed to be that way. I'm Jill Devine, a former radio personality with three tattoos, a love for a good tequila, and who's never read the entire Bible.
Speaker: Yet here I am hosting a podcast about faith. The Normal Goes a Long Way podcast is your home for real conversations with real people using real language about how faith and real life intersect. Welcome to the conversation. We've been spending this week reflecting on what was happening
Speaker: In Jesus, we've been spending this week talking about Holy Week and little glimpses into what Jesus may have been feeling, what was happening around him. And we've been doing that through some reflection and prayer with Laura Fleetwood. And we are going to continue that right now. It's early Friday morning. Still dark.
Speaker: Jesus is still there in the garden praying when Judas appears and betrays Jesus with a kiss. There's no turning back now. Jesus made his decision. He would follow his father's will. Jesus undergoes two separate trials.
Speaker: one with the Jewish religious leaders, and one with the Roman government. They accuse him, they berate him, they mock him, they lie about him, they abuse him physically, emotionally, and mentally. And throughout both trials,
Speaker: Jesus does not say a word in his defense. Can you imagine? Nothing they are saying is true. He has not broken any rules. He has not broken any laws. He has taught on love and mercy
Speaker: He has befriended those on the margins. He has loved those who were outcasts. He has shown the religious leaders their faults. He has made enemies by speaking the truth. And these enemies are now set against him.
Speaker: But even in the face of their accusations and their lies, Jesus does not defend himself. Why? Up to this point, Jesus always had a reply. He always had the right words to say to point out the truth. And yet from this point forward, he is silent.
Speaker: You see, Jesus was innocent, but we are not. And Jesus had made the decision to walk forward and take our place. The place of humankind, the one who had no sin,
Speaker: chose to become sin so that we would not have to pay the price for our separation from God, for our actions that are against God and against our neighbor. So in Jesus' silence, I like to think that he was silent
Speaker: Because he knew that even though it wasn't his sin, it was ours. And something had to be done about it. It was time. The separation from God could go on no more. There had to be a way for God to restore his connection with his people. And Jesus was the way.
Speaker: And so he took it. He took the beatings. He took the shame as they stripped his clothes and they placed bets and threw lots to see who would get to keep his clothes as they put a crown of thorns on his head to mock him as king of the Jews.
Speaker: And we want to yell, Jesus, say something. Tell them you're innocent. Tell them the truth. But he doesn't. He takes it and they crucify him. Crucifixion was not just
Speaker: A horrific, painful way to die. Crucifixion in that time was the most shameful way to die. You see, the leaders didn't just want to kill Jesus. They wanted to destroy any legacy that he may have left. They wanted to shame him and his followers so greatly
Speaker: that they would run and hide and never be a problem again. So Jesus hung on the cross, and he took his last breath, and he whispers the words, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Speaker: Dear heavenly father, there's no way that we can understand the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Even if we try, you just can't wrap our minds around the fact that somebody would do that for us. That somebody would do that for the very people who crucified him.
Speaker: He asked you to forgive them. Unimaginable. So as we sit with this truth today, we think about what Jesus endured, Lord.
Speaker: Help us to understand that this rescue plan that you set in motion, the fact that Jesus would suffer and be judged and condemned for what we have done and what we have not done, just so that we could have a relationship with you and not have this barrier, this separation anymore.
Speaker: Help that truth to sink deep within our souls, Lord, and point out in our hearts the ways that we have been building walls and separation between us and others. Because this love that Jesus had for us that propelled him to the cross is the same love that he wants to show through us to the world.
Speaker: While sometimes that may feel like a sacrifice, it is nothing compared to what He endured. All in the name of love. Amen.
