Good Friday

The last couple of months I have really been focusing on Jesus as a teacher. In fact, I have deliberately tried not to think about the virgin birth, the crucifixion and resurrection -- which in my mind are the things that pop into the heads of most Christians when they hear the name "Jesus."

Today, though, my disciplined meditation on Jesus as teacher came crashing down. Given that it's Good Friday I decided to read through all four of the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion and resurrection on the plane back from San Diego. And then I wondered: Why did the the sacrifice that God made for us have to be so dramatic? Why did Christ have to go through that kind of torture, that kind of violent death, to save us? Maybe part of the reason is that the magnitude of our collective sin just took a really big sacrifice. The perfect sacrifice.

But, maybe there is something else there, too. Maybe, God knew it would take that kind of sacrifice and that kind of drama to get our attention. Peter saw first hand Jesus do many things that were beyond amazing and beyond comprehension. He saw Jesus heal those who were beyond healing. He saw Jesus feed thousands with a few fish and loaves of bread. He saw Jesus bring a man back from the dead. And yet, despite having been a witness to all of that (and so much more) Peter denied even knowing Jesus three times in those last hours.

I know that Jesus wants all men to believe in Him -- but not just to believe. He wants us to hear His voice and to follow His commands. Maybe the crucifixion and resurrection weren't just about dying for us. Maybe these events were about getting our attention. Maybe in the torment and the death there was also a plea. And the plea was that if Jesus was willing to die for us, the least we could do is listen to what He had to say. The plea was that we should listen to Jesus the teacher.