John 19:17-42
Scripture says Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem and the cross. He left the glories of heaven and came to live and walk among His Creations. He endured the awful shame because we are His Joy. He covered our imperfections with His perfection and He, “set His face toward Jerusalem.”
Every morning we women set our faces toward the responsibilities of our day just as Jesus set His for the cross. His was a challenge, as ours is and His was difficult just as ours is.
Your days may be one more diaper to change; one more trip to the grocery; one more meal to put on the table; one more wash to get out of the dryer and fold. Maybe it’s another day to rush to your job even if it’s a bad hair day. Home that night and another meal to fix, the kitchen to clean, the kids to bath and put to bed and sometimes our days can seem endless.
Jesus understands when the needs of others seem more then we can handle. He understands because he’s been there. His body was held up with nails but Jesus looked at the group below Him and He handed the responsibility of His Mother into the care of John and He offered the sinful thief next to Him a place in Paradise.
We know it’s not easy to forgive when we’re misunderstood or hurt, especially when it’s someone we serve daily. Women don’t forgive easily; we pout and plan how to get even. Sometimes we hurt back and often we succeed in hurting and then we feel even worse. Jesus understands! He not only said “Father forgive them," He showed us from the cross the reason people hurt us - "for they know not what they do.”
Maybe you desperately wanted a baby and you became pregnant, but the little one didn’t make it through the first trimester. Or the man you loved and promised to cherish has found someone else he’d rather share life with. You may be struggling with health problems that may not have a solution or maybe you’ve lost a loved one to Eternity.
Jesus understands. On the Cross He cried out exactly what you have often cried. “WHY”? You know you’ve said it, thinking no one understands or has an answer. Jesus knows and Jesus understands and Jesus has an answer.
Go back to Genesis. God said a man and woman come together and become one flesh. A marriage is more than a white dress and a ceremony. It’s a man and woman becoming one and often together producing yet another of God’s creations. Have you ever wondered why a woman who loses her husband, or a man that loses his wife, grieves so terribly? They’ve lost part of themselves. In a way, that’s what happened on the cross.
Who is Jesus? He is God! He cried out, “My God, My God, WHY have you forsaken me?” Why? - because for an agonizing moment in time, Jesus was not only a long way from Home; He not only became perfection covered with imperfection, but He was separated from Himself. God was separated from God. Jesus understands “Why?” better than any of us will ever understand that question.
David, my other half; wrote the events of every family Christmas on the back of pictures hanging on our walls. He listed who was there and their age; the weather and the weight of the turkey. If you want a history of our family; it’s on the backs of the pictures in my home. He always ended his account of Christmas day with something about the Savior.
One Christmas he ended with words I felt were truly profound. David wrote, “Thank you God for sending your only Son and thank you, Jesus, for accepting the challenge to come and save us from ourselves.” If you want answers; go to Jesus,
“Who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross.”
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