Oh, How I Love Jesus

Thursday, April 6, 2023

By Maile Soto, Discipleship Director, Tree of Life Church

Philippians 2:5-11

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,  6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Hebrews 4:14-15

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Oh, the perfect Son of God
In all His innocence
Here walking in the dirt with you and me
He knows what living is
He's acquainted with our grief
Man of sorrows, Son of suffering
The blood and tears
How can it be?
There's a God who weeps
There's a God who bleeds
Oh, praise the One
Who would reach for me
Hallelujah to the Son of suffering
--Bethel Music, Son of Suffering

Hebrews 13:5-6 

…for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
    I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”

---

Oh, How I Love Jesus

By Maile Soto

Easter brings up all the feels for me.  How could it not?  All the great themes of our faith are celebrated at Easter.  We have a savior! A rescuer! A deliverer!  He sacrificially took our place and died for us in a manner so horrible it’s difficult to really think about.  Then, when all hope seemed gone, GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD!! The tomb was empty! Death is defeated!  Jesus has won! And don’t even get me started on the Holy Spirit! ALL THE FEELS!!  So it makes sense that this Easter week I’ve been thinking about how much I love Jesus.

I’ve always loved Jesus.  Even when I wasn’t sure I loved the church anymore, I still loved Jesus.  It all started when He met me in the woods at an overnight campout when I was 9.  I was terrified, probably having a panic attack, couldn’t stop crying, couldn’t listen to reason… but when I prayed and asked Him to be my lord and savior, my fear was instantly gone. Seriously, one minute I couldn’t stop crying and the next I wasn’t—I was filled with peace.  I knew He was with me.  I knew He loved me.  And, for a time, I was so filled with joy it leaked out everywhere I went.

I remember as a college student how on Sunday nights I would slip in the back door of the small chapel on campus where a guy was playing guitar and singing worship songs, and I would just sit in the back and cry in the sweet presence of Jesus that was in that room. I had learned by then that it wasn’t okay to cry in front of people, that it made them uncomfortable and labeled me “too sensitive” or a problem. So even though I felt things deeply, I shoved it all in and  pretended I was okay.  Except when I got in His presence, then it would come out. It was okay to cry there.  It was okay that all I could do was cry. I couldn’t sing; I couldn’t pray. I just cried.  I loved Jesus so much on those nights.  I loved that He met me right where I was.

He’s always done that.  When I was screaming from the pain of an ovarian cyst that had burst, He was there, holding me through the pain.  When the guy I was dating broke things off out of nowhere and I spent 2 weeks literally sitting in a room staring at the walls, so depressed I couldn’t leave the house, Jesus met me there.  He really did pull me out of the pit (Psalm 40:2) and give me hope for the future (Jeremiah 29:11).  All the times as a young wife and mother when I was struggling and hopeless that things would ever change, He put His arms around me and told me He loved me.  He was with me in all of it. (Hebrews 13:5)  And then there was the time my daughter needed surgery and I couldn’t even pray because I was so terrified of what might happen.  My church community lifted me up and carried me before the throne of grace when I couldn’t do it myself, and I found help in my time of need (Hebrews 4:16)

I could tell you so many more stories of how Jesus has loved me and accepted me and been with me.  I imagine you have a fair number of these stories yourself. How could you not love a God like that? A God who knows what it feels like to be human.  Who knows what it feels like to be in pain, to be sad. Who sympathizes with us in our weakness. As the song says, He’s a God who weeps.  He’s a God who bleeds. He saved us!  He delivered us!  And this wonderful, beautiful, living savior we celebrate this Easter week has promised to never leave us, to never forsake us.  That’s some good news indeed.

Thank you, Jesus, that you humbled yourself and came to earth to live as one of us. Thank you that you know what it feels like cry, to weep, to bleed.  Thank you for enduring the cross for us.  Thank you that you have been with us through every moment of our lives, and that we can be confident You always will be.