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Of what or who do you boast? Or in our vernacular, what do you brag about?
Paul said to the Galatians: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). Can you imagine what this sounded like to Jewish people of that day? Boasting in the cross? That was unthinkable—and yet it is because of the cross that Jesus was able to purchase our salvation.
I have led many tours to Israel and each time I went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus spent those agonizing hours before he was arrested, I was reminded that it’s not a fairy tale, it’s not just a story that has been passed down through the ages. No, the cross of Jesus Christ was real. He suffered that shameful death for me—and for you—so that God could forgive our sins and we could have the righteousness of Jesus Christ credited to us and therefore making us eligible to spend eternity with God.
There’s something about sitting in that garden, still filled with olive trees, and knowing we are on sacred ground, walking and meditating there where Jesus agonized until his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground, praying “Not my will but thine be done,” as he faced the reality of being separated from his Father and bearing in his own body the sins of the world. Each time I came away from that Garden more humbled and more aware of just what it meant for Jesus to give himself a ransom for many—for me—and to be willing to die on a cross.
As you and I celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, let us glory in the cross, because without it, we have no hope. Boast about the cross and what Jesus has done for you. Tell everybody you can why this celebration is so vital and precious to you. And we will celebrate with great joy the fact that the grave could not hold Jesus; death had no victory over him. He arose from the grave.
What kind of god dies? Only the true God, the only God, who died so that we could live. Let it sink into your mind and heart as you stand in awe that Jesus died for you. Don’t ever take this story, this truth, for granted or allow it to become just another story. Understanding the enormity of his death on a cross is sobering and amazing, and it is reason for great joy.
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