Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Beauty and the Beast


Its almost that time...the day we as Christians remember what Christ went through for us.  

He was scourged.

He was hung on the cross to die.

But between the scourging and the cross, something happened that wasn't ordered. 

Matthew 27:27-31 

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

They were given two orders that day - scourge him then take him to the hill and kill him.  But they had other ideas.  They wanted to have some fun first.  They mocked him.  A nearly dead man was before them and they decided to play dress up and mock him, and then they spit on him.  

Spitting doesn't hurt the body - but it hurts the soul.  Have you ever gossiped about someone?  Same as spitting in their face. Ever made someone feel bad so you would feel good?  Spit.  Ever gotten angry over a simple infraction and made a big deal out of it?  Spit.  Rolled your eyes in arrogance or raised your hand in anger? Spit

How we treat others is how we treat Jesus.  Whoa!  We don't like hearing that.  But, its true, isn't' it? We don't like to hear that, but there is a beast within all of us.  What would have happened if the Beauty had not shown up to the castle in the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast?  Ever considered that? What if she hadn't cared?  But, she did care and she did come.  And because she loved the Beast, he became more beautiful.

Isn't that how we are because of Jesus?  There is a beast within each of us.  Since the fall of Adam in the garden we've become beastly, ugly, defiant, angry.  We do things we know we shouldn't do and wonder why we do them! The Bible is called the Good Book, but its filled with spilled blood, murder, rage, lust, seduction, idolatry.  Why is it Good when its filled with bad?  Because of Jesus.

Though made in God's image, we are corrupt to the core.  We try to do good, but our very center is selfish and perverse.  But, Jesus took that spit to the cross.  He was offered wine to drink, but no cloth to wash his face.  He chose the nails and he also chose the saliva.  He chose to carry that shame instead of wiping it off his face.   Jesus became the beast so we could become beautiful.   He took the spit, the saliva, the sin so we could become beautiful.

So, today, try to spit less.  Try to become who God says you are - beautiful and holy.   

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