Do You Ever Doubt God’s Love For You?

Of the four seasons, fall is my favorite. The temperatures cool down a little. The leaves change colors. Football season begins. And the holidays are just around the corner.

In second place is summer. Hot, sunny days. Relaxing by the pool. Hanging out at the beach. Walking along the boardwalk. Family vacations. And no school!. When I was a kid, summers meant endless days of stickball and swimming. Such good memories.

My least favorite season has always been spring. Even the cold, dark days of winter beat it. So what’s my problem with spring?

Well, partly it has to do with Easter. Actually, it’s not Easter so much as it’s Good Friday.

I don’t like to even think about what happened to Jesus between Thursday night and Friday night. I don’t like the beatings or the bleeding or the betrayals. It’s brutal and violent and confusing.

I’ve seen clips of film, “The Passion of the Christ,” but I’ve never seen the whole thing. And I don’t want to.

Easter morning is great of course. I love the display of power. I love the fact that Jesus proves He’s the Son of God by coming back to life. But to get there, we’ve got to first go through Friday.

Honestly, it’s hard for me to even understand the crucifixion and the events leading up to it. There aren’t any adequate analogies or illustrations or metaphors to point to. That 24-hour period from Thursday evening to Friday evening stands alone in time. No other day can compare to the day that…

God let us humiliate and kill Him.

It was the day we abandoned Him. Deserted Him. Made promises to Him and then broke them. The day He asked for our help and comfort…and we fell asleep.

We beat Him. We spit on Him. We whipped Him. And we nailed Him to a cross.

And He let us do it.

When Peter tried to fight with a sword, Jesus told him to put it away. Then He said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

Twelve legions? How many is that? Well, a Roman legion was comprised of 6,000 soldiers. So if He’d wanted to, He could have summoned over 72,000 angels to wipe us out. That’s only if He didn’t want to just do it Himself.

The high priest, the elders and the teachers of the law interrogated Jesus, but He remained silent. He didn’t even defend Himself against their false charges. Even when they spit on Him and beat Him with their fists, He did nothing.

The twelve legions of angels were still available as Jesus was flogged by the Roman soldiers. But still, He didn’t call for help. And not when He was hanging on the cross either.

Jesus deliberately let us torture and kill Him in the most brutal way imaginable. And He did nothing to stop it. It all played out just as He’d planned it.

We may doubt many things in this life, but I wonder if the horrific events of Good Friday were meant to forever erase all doubt of God’s love for us. The resurrection proved Jesus was who He claimed to be. It showed us that He truly had power over death.

But the self-control and humility He exhibited on Good Friday was His way of saying, “If you’re ever tempted to doubt My love for you–just remember all that I willingly endured for you.”