My friend Katie found this journal entry her daughter Rory wrote in Kindergarten. In case your Kindergarten skills fail you, it reads: When I get a shot I feel very scared, but when my mom is near me I don't feel scared anymore."
Katie is a great mom. She loves both her daughters with a love that cannot be measured. Her daughters know that, too. But Rory doesn't say her mother takes away the shot, or tells the doctor "NO", or even that her mom takes the shot for her. Rory's fear is removed by the presence of her mother.
Can't you just see Katie preparing Rory for the day's visit? "You have a doctor's appointment today."
"Do I have to get a shot?" Rory trembles.
"Yes. But I'll stay with you the whole time."
Rory's eyes brim with tears as she tries to be brave, but she can hear the doctor walking down the hallway. Katie moves next to the bed and holds Rory's hand. Wrapping her other arm around Rory's small body, Katie whispers, "It'll be ok. I'll be here the whole time."
Jesus knew that something really scary was going to happen. He went with his friends, his very best friends, to a lonely garden and asked them to stay with him. They fell asleep, not once but twice, while he asked his Father to be near him. Friends were not enough. The only way he could get through the coming ordeal was if his Father held his hand.
God the Father loved Jesus. He held his hand as long as he could. He whispered words of encouragement as the "doctor neared the door", and then the murderers tore down the garden gate. The night was black, the friends were gone, the fear was reality.
But now the worst thing that could happen did. In Jesus' most anguished of moments, his Father let go of his hand and left for the waiting room. The sins of the world hung on the cross with God's Son, and God could hold Jesus' hand no longer. He wouldn't take away the crucifixion, or tell the sinners "NO", or even take the crucifixion on himself. (Don't go all Godhead Trinity on me at this point, but remember Jesus was fully man.)
I can't imagine Katie allowing such a terrible thing to happen to Rory. I know I wouldn't allow it to happen to my sons. And yet, God commanded it, and Jesus obeyed. Thank you, Jesus.
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The man who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:18-19
"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13
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