“Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” (John 12:27-28a)

Jesus was agitated and stirred up inside over the Cross that awaited Him. He was unique among all of human creation because He was born to die in a specific way and for a specific purpose. His death would literally, be hung up for all the world to see. He would be on display for the remainder of human history. His death would remain the path to the Father’s Kingdom for all humankind. Was there no other way? No, there wasn’t and Jesus realized this. It was for this time that He had come. All the sins of disobedience committed by God’s human creation would be placed upon Him on the Cross. He would take those sins, opening the way for our entering God’s Kingdom by our trust in Him.

There is no way we can imagine what this sacrifice meant to Jesus. We cannot imagine the weight of our sins. We can come to tears as we look at the physical pain He suffered on the Cross, but we can never know the spiritual pain He suffered for us in being separated from the Father at that moment. His death was the sum of all our deaths of being separated from our Creator forever. He experienced that horror. And He would do it again to spare us from experiencing it. As we trust Him, we do not have to worry about that.

Heavenly Father, Your name was glorified for eternity in the sending of Your Son, Jesus, to suffer and die for us. We thank and praise You for Your great mercy in saving us from ourselves. We thank You for sending Your Spirit to teach us the truth about our condition and turning us to Your Son. You have saved us! Alleluia!

In Jesus’ name. Amen.