5 Days To The Cross: Day 1

As the week before Easter (or resurrection Sunday) is here I find myself thinking about what this week would have been like for Jesus. I know we have the scriptures to reference some of the things that took place on the Monday before his crucifixion. But I also think about what the "man Jesus" must have been going through and what the "son of God Jesus" must have been thinking...
We know through the scriptures that even with Jesus' death being only a few days away there were still things He was trying to teach the disciples. We know that He used the object of the fig tree to talk to them about faith. And we know that He made His way to the temple and was angered by the things He found going on there. People were buying and selling in the temple and profits were being made in what Jesus referred to as "His father's house". And we also know that Jesus took time to heal those who came to him. All just days before He would go to the cross....
These are all facts that we know went on because they are recorded in His word, but I find myself wondering what feelings were going through Jesus. I mean, it is days before His death...He knows what is coming, and at the same time He knows that His time with these men that he has been trying to disciple is also coming to an end. I'm sure there was great concern for how much they understood. What all they had gotten from Him. The job ahead of them to carry out His work. And the human side of Jesus (which there was one) knew the days with His friends were coming to an end. And the supernatural side of Jesus already knew already knew how each one of these friends were going to handle the days ahead. He knew the ones that would stand by him, and the ones that would betray Him. That alone would be so much to have to deal with. Now, on top of that, He also knew that with each passing hour this horrific death was getting closer and closer.
I stopped today and thought about the people I have known who have bravely faced death. People who knew they salvation was secure and they were going on to a better place. These were people who had fought battles with a disease that was finally leading up to death. And days before it happened they knew it was coming. Again and again I have known people who bravely approached those days because they knew the end of this life meant the beginning of eternity with Jesus. And that was something to rejoice. However, I have never known someone who knew they were going to get brutally murdered days before it took place. Have you ever stopped to think about what Jesus knew about His own death? Not just that death was coming, but that He knew the brutality behind the death that He was going to have to face. The beating that was going to come before the death. The human physical pain that He was going to have to endure.....He knew all of this. And yet when we look at the scriptures, four days before His death and He was still passionate about the things that were going on around Him. He was still teaching and He was healing... I can't say that I know a single person in my life (including myself) that would even be able to focus enough to get out of bed if they knew what was going to be coming in the next 4 days. But He did...
Again, I can only say some of these things out of my own imagination of what these days would have been like for Jesus. But there is one thing I can say for sure. As each day drew closer He could have said "Father I can't do this for these people....they don't deserve it"....but He never did. And so as each day draws closer to Good Friday I will remember a man that loved me....and loved you....so much that even knowing what awful things lied ahead for himself, He pressed forward for us. That is a love I can't even wrap my head around.
God, Thank You for Jesus. I also can't imagine what you had to endure this week as you watched the way this world treated Your Son. But You made a way for us anyway....Thank You so much for that! I pray God that people will find Your love this week. People will discover Your amazing Forgiveness, Grace and Mercy this week. And I pray that people's lives will be forever changed by discovering who Jesus Christ is, and realizing exactly what it was that He did for them. When I think about what You gave, giving my life back to you to you seems so insignificant....but I know you don't see it that way. I know that You think I was worth dying for...and I thank You so much God! I love you, I praise you and I honor You! In Jesus name, Amen