HIS GREAT LOVE APPEARED TO BE FRAGILITY

BIBLE STUDY #806 – CHURCH IN THE HOUSES TUESDAY, MARCH 18-24, 2014

Topic: “HIS GREAT LOVE APPEARED TO BE FRAGILITY” John 15:13 John 15:13 “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” The love we have found on behalf of Jesus is the one that we must live. It would seem that when Jesus came to earth, it was in weakness. But it was not like this; Jesus came to earth with love. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Here there is no weakness, there is LOVE! It is mockery from some who see it as weakness, but it is GREAT LOVE! In Matthew 27:28-31 it is shown when Jesus was taken to the roman praetorian to be judged. They mistreated Him, hitting and humiliating Him. They took Him to a place where people were prosecuted; there they took the One who loves the world. Stripping Him they covered Him with a (red) scarlet robe as a mockery, a king’s robe. They put a crown of thorns on His head and a rod (stick) at His right, giving Him the sensation of placing a scepter in His hand, but they did this as a mockery. Mocking Him they kneeled before Him as if He was a king. Jesus remained in silence in the midst of the ignorance of those ruthless roman soldiers who were unaware of the love of the Son of God manifested on earth. They could not see or understand His great and wonderful love. They spit at Him while hitting Him on the head with the rod. In our times and in these common days in which we live, instead of us loving intensely, it seems as we are only worried about the daily life. We live worrying about the economic situations; we worry if earthquakes will occur or if the electricity will fail. We show faces of fear or displeasure for these things that seem so great to us and we forget what is most important. Instead of complaining and being concerned for the common things, we should first consider the love with which the Lord loved us, what He endured for us in order to give us salvation and eternal life. Let us live our daily life loving as Jesus did and being totally grateful and satisfied for such great love from God for us. After having mocked Jesus in a cruel and humiliating way, the roman soldiers dressed the Lord with His clothes and took Him to be crucified. All this did not look good or pretty to those Jews who were seeking for Him to be killed because of the envy they felt for Him. Pilate understood that this was the reason for which they took Him to be condemned. (Matthew 27:17-18) “So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Christ?” For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.” Jesus took our human fragility upon Himself out of love. His fragility was like my fragility, His weakness was our weakness and His lack of strength was the same as in one of us, only that it was love that moved Him. Had I died there, nothing would have happened, but He was the Son of God. God, who had incarnated making Himself weak like one of us to die and pay the price of blood for us! There is fragility in me and He placed Himself there in that position of equal weakness SO THAT I COULD ACKNOWLEDGE THE TRUE LOVE FROM HIM TO ME, HIS GREAT LOVE FOR ALL HUMANITY. The envious mockers did not know such love. They would say: “You who destroy the temple” and He referred to His body. Matthew 27:40 “and saying: You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” What importance could those stones have in that moment when that nation loved by Him had God’s visitation? “Save yourself,” they said to Him. How weak He seemed to them! They could not believe or didn’t want to believe that He had come out of love, not in hatred. He did not come in hatred like the one they were manifesting with so much cruelty and envy. Jesus was wrapped in a thick cloud of love, so much, that He could not see their hatred. He felt His love for them and the hatred did not affect Him; His glory covered Him, it was the excellence of His love. Jesus submitted himself to Rome’s empire while being crucified. Although He had been accused by the religious Jews, He was killed by: Rome. For the Jewish the one who was going to be the Messiah would have to be the one who would be covered with a red robe, with a spade and horses and with a golden crown; not that one who they were now seeing on a cross and who seemed weak and fragile. But, that body was suffering and it was for me, so that I would acknowledge the excellence of His great love.

We are His disciples and not greater than the Master. What is expected of us in regards to love? That like Him we also live and wait in love, that we also be covered with such excellent Glory of love like Jesus’. John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this that he lay down His life for his friends.” Oh! We demand so much for us instead of giving ourselves to love like Jesus loved! Jesus had compassion for the multitude and fed them whenever He could. Much is said of the people that come to church only for the fish and bread! But there is no problem with that, we have to love! We cannot keep from them what we must give with love. This verse about the distribution of the bread and the fish has been used as a mockery for those whom we should have loved; we must give according to their needs. One cannot manifest greater esteem for the loved ones than He who surrendered His life for them, and this is Jesus’ great love. If that love is in Jesus, we must also have it in us. We must stop asking, “Do they love me?”, and start loving others surrendering even our own lives. Look, how much have you given of your life? How much have you really given? How much of your life will you give from now on? Amen.