Love Is On The Move
"He traded His crown for a crown of thorns, He picked up His cross and laid down His sword, He stumbled down the road bruised and beaten for me, Jesus walked the way of grief, Hallelujah!" – Leeland, Via Dolorosa
Hello Dear Friend,
Let’s go back in time for a bit, say a little over two thousand years or so, back to a time when Jesus was in His ministry, performing miracles, sharing teachings and quickly becoming considered an outlaw to the Roman Empire…
Now in those days there was this Roman law that stated that any Roman soldier could take any civilian of their choosing and use them as a servant for the length of one mile. They couldn’t have them forever but for that one mile that person was in that soldier’s service and compelled to be their servant and carry their baggage as if it were their own.
So now imagine being one of the many among the crowd that day that Jesus gave His Sermon on the Mount. Standing there clinging to every truthful word uttered from His lips as you nod your head in agreement and your voice is carried off with the others in the low harmonious chants of yeah’s and amen’s. And then you hear Jesus say, “And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.”
Wait, what? That can’t be right. You and everyone else must have heard Jesus wrong as you look at each other puzzled and confused. Why would He suddenly side with the Romans? You don’t want to go with them for the first mile, why on earth would you offer to go a second? You don’t understand. No one understands what He's saying or why.
Okay, now let’s fast forward some...
You’ve been on the road following Jesus for awhile now and you choose to believe that you’ve made more comrades than enemies. Your clothes have definitely seen better days and you can’t remember the last time you had a decent meal or a place to call home to rest your head. Not to mention, when exactly was the last time you were fully submerged in water? It’s true. It very well could have been back when you were baptized – how long ago was that? At any rate, your heart is full. The more and more time you spend with Jesus the more your heart is filled with love, compassion and the truth.
But now the time has come and everything you know has changed. You feel hopeless. You feel sorrow. You feel lost. The Jesus you know, the Jesus you love, the Jesus you follow, taken. Jesus has been taken! Judas has betrayed Him. Peter has denied that he ever even knew Him. Jesus has been tried, He has been beaten, He has been mocked and now His sentence is crucifixion! Your eyes pool over with tears as you stand on the side of the road mixed in with the other bystanders. You’re helpless as you look at your Lord.
He stumbles along the dirt path. Weakened by all the flogging and so covered in blood and bruises that it’s hard to tell that He's a man. Somehow He’s found enough strength to carry the cross, His cross, towards Golgotha, The Place of the Skull. How could this be? Your mind is racing with questions causing all kinds of chaos and confusion in your brain just before your eyes suddenly meet His. In that moment everything goes silent and fades away. Nothing else exists. Nothing else is relevant as you stand there looking at Jesus. His steps have paused and His eyes are fixed on you and in that moment it all becomes clear as you realize where He stands and the invisible threshold that He is about to cross.
All the thoughts rush in as your mind screams, “Wait! No! Stop! This isn’t right! Wait, stop, STOP! What are you doing? You shouldn’t be doing this!” Immediately your thoughts go back to that day on the Mount and as He looks into your eyes everything He's doing becomes revealed. One look into those eyes, His eyes and you capture all the love, all the compassion, all the grace and mercy coming from His sacrifice. He turns His head forward to continue His journey up the hill. As He plants His foot forward to brace Himself for the following step on the Via Dolorosa - the road of suffering, the greatest love story the world has ever known continues to unfold…
It is believed that the journey Jesus took to Golgotha was a little over one mile. Now whether this is actually true or not I don’t know but for the sake of my point let’s pretend that it’s true. The road Jesus traveled to His death is said to be a little over a mile long. Based on how I started this, let that sink in for a second. Do you know how easy it would have been for Jesus to reach that mile marker, come to an abrupt stop and say, “Whoa! Hold up! That’s it for me! It’s about time that I peace out of here! So here is your cross. Careful, it’s pretty heavy. I carried it for you for a bit but now it’s time that you atone for your own sins. I did what was required, I went the mile.”
You have every right to believe whatever you want to believe. As for me, I chose to believe that Jesus mentioning the second mile during His notorious Sermon on the Mount was not to be looked over but to reveal the symbolism of a moment during His journey on the Via Dolorosa that led Him up the hill to Calvary. I have no doubt that if the length of this journey is true, then Jesus probably did pause for a brief second very much aware of that next step that He would take and while He took a deep breath He also took that step that changed everything. It was in that one step that requirement turned into free will and true sacrifice.
"In a little while I will go for you, in a little while I will bleed for you. In a little while I will hang for you, in a little while I will call for you. You, I only want to spend my time with you. I cracked me skin so I could be with you. I made the world to stop it just for you, I want to be with you." – Seven Places, Little
In truth I’ll never fully be able to comprehend the fullness of the love that Christ has for me. I’ll never fully understand just how much His sacrifice meant or how painfully my sin was to carry. The fact that He willingly stepped between the Father and me and had His blood flowing out of Him from seven different places to cleanse me and wash me of my sins to give me the gift of eternal life is overwhelming. Talk about your epic love story this one puts all others to shame. God’s love for you, God's love for me and for our whole corrupted world is so big that He was willing to give up His only Son as the sacrificial Lamb to pay the price of our sins so that we could spend eternity with Him in His kingdom. Jesus loves us so much that He was willing to make the grandest gesture as He told His Father, “Send me. I will go. I will be the sacrifice. I am willing. I will bleed for them. I will carry the weight of their sins. I will die and pour out my love for them. I will bind every chain that will ever attempt to hold them captive. My love for them is eternal. I will show them my everlasting love. Send me.”
With love,
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