THE BEAUTY OF ENTRUSTMENT

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.

1 Peter 2:23

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s message, we saw the Word of God send a clear message that suffering is commendable, when experienced in the context of our faith in Jesus. You’ll recall that this is because when we suffer for His name and sake, we are returning the favor He first gave us, willing to suffer and give up His life so we might be saved.

This call to remember the deep affliction that Jesus selflessly endured while saving us and paving the way for eternal life beckons our attention toward the cross of Calvary. For it’s there that we learn something else about the Christian experience from our Savior. Look at our scripture verse for today from the second chapter of 1 Peter:

When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. v.23

Perhaps you remember some of the things said to Jesus as He hung and died, sacrificed publicly although He was perfectly sinless and innocent.

“He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” Luke 23:35

“If you are the king of the Jews, save Yourself.” Luke 23:37

Even the criminal who was rightfully crucified and hanging next to Jesus got in on the derogatory comments, saying:

“Aren’t you the Messiah? Save Yourself and us!” Luke 23:39

Insult after insult was hurled at Jesus by people who had no idea who they were really degrading for if they had known, they would have never crucified Him in the first place. They were ignorant to the fact that all of God’s power was within His Son for they were One (John 10:30). Jesus could have commanded legions of angels to rain down from Heaven to completely eliminate His enemies. They would have never known what hit them but we know He didn’t do that. Rather, He showed us the incredible amazement found in grace and the beauty of entrustment through these words He spoke to His Father God:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34

Note here that Jesus didn’t take matters into His own hands. Instead, He entrusted the situation to His Father, not asking for judgment to fall on His adversaries but rather forgiveness, forgiveness born out of an understanding that the people assaulting Him verbally were ignorant of the gravity of their behavior. They truly didn’t know who He was but after Jesus’ final act of entrustment, they would. Go back to Luke’s Gospel and add an excerpt from Matthew and you will see a revelation happen after Jesus drew His final breath.

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” When He had said this, He breathed his last. Luke 23:44-46

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely He was the Son of God!” Matthew 27:52, 54

There had been many, many crucifixions on the hill of Calvary. In every occasion, the crucified offender simply died and was taken off the cross. And so no one was ready for what happened when Jesus entrusted His Spirit to His Father in Heaven. At that moment, He took His last breath and triggered a series of rather cataclysmic events.

The temple curtain tore “in two from top to bottom”.

The “earth shook”.

“Rocks split” and “tombs broke open”.

This aftermath of Jesus’ death brought terror to everyone who experienced it, leading them to exclaim:

“Surely, He was the Son of God.”

Jesus’ beautiful entrustment first spared them and then brought them to seeing Him for who He truly was.

Friends, the way we deal with others also speaks volumes as to how close we are to being like Jesus as His believers. Our Christ-likeness is grounded and anchored in how well we entrust ourselves to our Father God and maintain our faith in Him in every way, just as His Son did.

In the end translation, Jesus surrendered His will, exchanging it for the will of His Father. As His followers, we need to do likewise.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.