THE POWER OF SACRIFICIAL LOVE
For Lent, our church is studying Twenty-four Hours that Changed the World by Adam Hamilton. We continue with torture and humiliation of the Christ. Mark 15:15-23 I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hid my face from insult and spitting. Isaiah 50:6 The biblical accounts of Jesus' torture and humiliation at the hands of the Roman soldiers leave me with a sense of helplessness. There stood Jesus -- his hands bound, his body a mass of bleeding wounds clothed only in a purple robe and a crown of thorns. He said nothing as he endured the physical and emotional torture inflicted upon him while soldiers mocked him and repeatedly struck him, Where is the power in this? Certainly we can see the power of evil in this story – Judas' betrayal; the fear that drove the actions of the disciples and the Sanhedrin; the self-serving pettiness of the religious leaders; the complacency o...