Jesus Christ is absolutely astounding. Every time I think I've got Him all figured out, I soon come to find that this could not be further from the truth. He is too unbelievable, too vast, too prodigious, too unprecedented, too utterly and entirely and exceedingly magnificent to be placed in some box, to be explained and understood in full. And I think that's what gets to people. People in this day and age are so analytical, so dead set on demanding a how and a why to everything that they cannot for even a moment stand to surrender to the fact that there is something (better yet, Someone) who is beyond their finite minds and their earthly way of thinking. They can't grasp it because God doesn't succumb to this meager thinking; He's far too big for that. You know, I heard a great quote recently from a man who was talking about the sheer ceaselessness of Christ, and he said something along the lines of, "He's not held hostage to our puny reason." In other words, Jesus Christ was not meant to be completely understood here on earth. If that was the case, then faith would be nothing. A key part of faith is trusting in something bigger than oneself, in something that surely could not be explained in human terms, because if it could, then trusting in it - or Him - would be kind of silly. It would be futile, the lost cause of the century in my opinion.
No, Jesus is quite the contrary. Now, I'm not saying that He's totally undefinable and out of reach and out of touch. Not at all, actually. That's the thing about Jesus: His love manages to soothe and stir all at once, to calm and excite in one sweeping force, to wreck and renew in a mere moment. He's inexplicable, yet so accessible, and it's a phenomenon that I'm not sure if I ever hope to fathom completely.
And so here we are at the end of Lent, with Easter just hours away. And I'm so stoked about it. This story of a man, of a God, of a Savior who was and is steadfast, undefeatable, insurmountable, and unconquerable is so devastating, yet so empowering. This same Savior essentially said, "Sin, you may have had your hold on my people up until now, but that's no longer the case. I hate to break it to you, but you're nothing anymore. You're dead; you're done; you are a terrible, wretched, filthy waste, and it's been a pain but a pleasure to defeat and annihilate you once and for all. My children are free if they look to me. Deal with it." That's it. He went to the cross; He served our sentence; He endured the unthinkable. And through this, we hold the key to a salvation that is unimaginable. And when it's put like that, you can't help but be humbled, enraptured and enveloped by the pure, unadulterated, perpetual love of Jesus Christ, champion over sin and the devil, key to life and salvation, and Friend and Father to all who seek His ever-present presence. Now that's love.
And this love engulfs. And it blankets. And it encompasses. And it embraces. And it compels. Or at least it should compel. We should be so affected by this love and by the peace and joy that will undoubtedly be the byproducts of such love that we want everyone to know Christ. This world needs more people to fall in love with Christ, people who not only cling to Him, but also are unashamed of it. People who understand the ravages and rages of this world and are determined to find the beauty within them, and to extend the knowledge of this beauty and this inextinguishable hope to all they meet.
We love because He first loved us. And might I say, that was a pretty extravagant, colossal love. The most timeless love story of all time. So with that, HAPPY EASTER. Blessings through the risen Christ. Spread the love and the word.
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