“Jesus suffered and died for you.” Have you heard that before? As Christians, it’s something that we take for granted. We’ve heard the story year, after year. Jesus dies, then the Father raised him from that death and now we have the assurance of everlasting life!

This is a great promise, but often this story about Jesus seems so far removed from you and me. I hear it often as a pastor, “I don’t know why those Jews in the days of Jesus just didn’t get it. I mean, clearly, he was the Messiah. They were blind to it. If I were living back then, I wouldn’t have let him go to the cross.” It breaks my heart when I hear this, because it means that we miss the point of what the passion of Christ means for us.

The truth is each one of us, by our own selfishness and sin directly send Jesus to the cross. Jesus goes to the cross because of your sin today. Our own selfishness and desires nail Jesus to the cross. Over the Wednesdays in Lent this is what we’re going to be focusing on. Each week at our midweek service we’ll hear from a different character who directly caused Jesus to go to the cross. These are people like Adam and Eve, Barabbas, and the Centurion. As we hear their stories, we’ll be able to reflect on what our sin does to Jesus. We’ll see that we are no different than them.

While we hear their stories, we’ll see that Jesus willingly goes to the cross out of love for you and all sinners. It’s a beautiful paradox, where our sin, puts Jesus on the cross, but His love poured out on the cross, forgives us and gives us life. This hope we all long for!

So, this Lent, I hope you pause and join us as we go to the cross in the series “By My Hand, For My Sake.” Services will be at 5 pm and 7 pm with a dinner in between them at 5:45 pm. It will be a great time to reflect on why the cross still matters today.

God’s Peace, Pastor Mark