All these mysteries seem to require a lot of picking apart.
After I had already posted last night's post, I realized that I had forgotten to mention what is perhaps the most mysterious part of this mystery: Jesus' complete humility.
Jesus' courage in the face of pain is amazing but not really mysterious: He is God, after all.
What is truly incomprehensible at times to me is His humility, the fact that Jesus allowed Himself to be scourged at the pillar.
In some ways, this mystery seems to highlight Jesus' humility better than any other, except perhaps the crucifixion itself. Yes, He is incredibly humble throughout the Sorrowful Mysteries, but it is amazing to think how much humility it took for Jesus to allow himself to be scourged, beaten down physically while being humiliated by his torturers.
What I forget so often is that Jesus was subject to temptation, just like all other humans. Unlike all the rest of us (except His mother), though, He never gave in to the temptation.
He didn't have to let them torture Him. When they spat on Him and told Him to prophesy who had done it, He could have rained fire down on His attacker. He could have escaped His bonds and turned the scourges to water, and He could have done all of this without so much as blinking His eyes.
I know that if I was ever in a situation where my entire body was screaming in pain and my torturers were taunting me, I would take any opportunity I could to escape.
Jesus didn't though, so why not? Why would He have allowed Himself to be humiliated? Why would He even have created us when He'd known from all eternity that we would do this to Him?
Love. That's why. A more incredible love than any of us could ever imagine, and it's all aimed at us. From all time, God has loved us with a burning passion; He has loved us creatures even before He created us, even though He knew that we would torture and kill Him when given the chance. That kind of love, I think, is the greatest mystery of all.
I'm praying for you!
:)
No comments:
Post a Comment