Sleep deprived
I'm feeling sleep deprived.
I'm not sure if I ought to blame Serenity or the government stealing that hour the other day. Either way I'm permanently sleepy it seems. I need my 8 or 9 hours of sleep every day and I'm just not getting them! It makes me grouchy.
I will be doing better once I have my upcoming 4 day weekend though. I'll be able to sleep in until 6 or 7 every day, which is an extra 2 - 3 hours per day of sleep from what I've been getting. I'm really looking forward to that!
Monday of Lent 3 - The Passion of the Christ
Read: Luke 23:1-47
And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me inParadise." (Lk. 23:43)
There He is, and it doesn't make sense. If God in diapers and lying in a
manger was incongruous, the idea of God on a cross is simply insane. Man is
mortal, God is immortal, and yet Immanuel breaths His last and gives up His
spirit while the crowds survive to jeer another day.
It makes even less sense, considering His trial. Jesus stands before Pilate, a
puny human ruler who only has authority because Jesus has given it to him.
Throughout the trial, Judge Pilate pronounces Jesus “not guilty” not once, but
three times! (Lk. 23:4, 14, 22) After that Pilate sentences the innocent man to
be scourged and crucified. Once the death sentence is completed, the centurion
in charge declares again that they've killed an innocent man (Lk. 23:47). The
crowds shouting for His crucifixion maintain that He deserves to die for
blasphemy, for claiming to be the Son of God; except that, since He is the Son
of God, it's not blasphemy. Behold this most despicable moment in human
history: man puts God to death because God is innocent!
And why does God the Father permit this travesty? Because He declares His
Son guilty. As St. Paul would later write, For [God] made Him who knew no
sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2
Cor. 5:21). Indeed, this is why Jesus has drawn so near as to take on flesh and
blood. To give more commands or to make sure the rain falls, He could have
remained in heaven or remote on a mountaintop. But to be the Savior, He had
to have a body and blood so that His body could be nailed to the cross and His
blood shed. The Son has become man to suffer God's wrath for the sin of man.
And what is Jesus doing as He suffers the wrath of God and man? Jesus is
doing what He does wherever He is: He is saving. Even as He suffers hell on
that cross for the sins of all man, He is still present for salvation. On the next
cross over is a robber, a man who deserves his fate after a life of predatory
crime, and who certainly can do nothing now to earn God's favor. But Jesus is
present there; and as He dies for the sins of the world, Jesus speaks specifically,
personally to this repentant sinner. He says, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you
will be with Me in Paradise.”
Jesus life ends on the cross as it began in Bethlehem. He was born in
humble circumstances to save the world, yet the angel made sure to tell the
shepherds specifically, “Unto you (not just others) is born the Savior.” Here, on
Calvary in the midst of humiliating circumstances and agony, the present Lord
Jesus specifically assures the dying robber that He's not just dying for the sins of
an abstract world, but this death will bring that specific man into Paradise,
heaven, forever.
The reality of mankind putting Jesus to death, and of Jesus dying for all of
mankind, is phenomenal. But rejoice all the more in this: He is there on the
cross not just for “everybody;” but He is there for you.