Easter... the newness of the season

He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6

Another first, yet so different. Different because I have a newer and deeper appreciation for Easter than ever before. At the suggestion of a sweet friend who has also buried a child I watched The Passion yesterday, Good Friday. I watched it with new eyes and new feelings.

A few of my thoughts…
~ I related to Peter in a way I never had before. I am just like him… how many times have I promised to follow Him and then deny Him? Ouch
~ Jesus you did this for me
~ Each blow to the face, lash with the whip and nail through his flesh is repelling and an indisputable testimony of divine love
~ Every lash of the whip I did to you
~ A crown of thorns placed on your head for me
~ It was excruciating to watch
~ It was and is personal
~ You humbled yourself for me
~ I felt all over again the pain of not only realizing my Savior died for me… but the pain of watching my baby die. I felt Mary’s pain intensely! She kissed His feet. I kissed every one of her fingers and toes as I said goodbye one last time. She held Him… She wept, oh the hurt she must have felt, I feel it…
~ His heart broke with compassion for his mother
~ He looks on us with the same compassion
~ Mary’s grief and my grief and confusion were nothing compared to the awesome work accomplished that afternoon
~ Christ will do glorious works that involve suffering and loss. He persists in a greater glory. He knows one day I will understand
~ At the very moment Christ was dying on the cross, salvation was secured for all who would believe. The enemy was defeated. God was momentarily turning His face as every sin known to man was heaped on His Son. The hours Christ spent on the cross represented the most significant moments ever
~ I know because He died for me and rose again I will see my baby again and meet my precious Samuel and David for the first time… Hallelujah!!!

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. Ephesians 1:18-21