The most used verse in all the Bible, it carries a weight, and a depth of meaning that has become diluted and devalued. We're talking about a death...and our diluted senses practically shrug. Death is all around us in movies, books,and TV shows. It's flashy and dramatic, or quick and seemingly painless. Life has lost value to us as a western culture. Christ suffered a cruel death... Agony to the limit that any human body can endure... The worst form of torture. And then, worse than death, God turned His back on His Son and denied Himself community with Himself. Allowing the sin of all humanity to come crashing down on Jesus. Every lie, every theft, every affair, murder, rape, moment of envy, angry shout, bruising hit, bow before an idol, every moment a human being chooses not to live for God, came crashing down on Jesus. And the agony of the physical suffering that day became nothing in comparison to His soul freely accepting the punishment intended for us. But this would be meaningless if God had kept His back turned, but He did not. Jesus rose again under His own power. He was reunited with His father and they were once again whole and complete in in each other.
Because of His death and resurrection, we can believe and trust that He was indeed the Son of God. We also can understand that our sins are washed away. I think, though, if we truly understood the agony of Christ's suffering on our behalf...if we lived every day by saying Jesus suffered and died for me today, we would live differently.
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