Today marks the day Jesus was arrested. Today marks the day of divine surrender–the day where God in the flesh willingly submitted to His fickle and comparatively weak created ones to rescue us. It is the day where God whispered to us:
“I’ll be broken so you can be whole.”
“I’ll be reviled so you can be redeemed.”
“I’ll be rejected so you can be reconciled.”
“I’ll take on death so you can take on true life.”
“I’ll accept the hatred so you can know God’s love.”
“I’ll be denied by all so you will be accepted by God.”
“I’ll be forsaken by God so you will never ever be.”
Yes, one of the most confounding truths of the Easter narrative is divine surrender. It is where God in Jesus Christ reminds us of His faithful love–a love so great that He would allow His hands to be tied behind His own back by the very ones He will suffer to save.
Jesus’ divine surrender led to His redemptive suffering.
When you and I get it, and I mean really get that Easter comes through divine surrender, our hearts will be taken captive and we will, in turn, surrender. And we will surrender our lives because we will come to believe that He is worthy of all our trust because in this divine surrender and suffering, God did exactly what He said He would do.
“I’ll surrender to death on a cross so that you can be rescued from death because of your sin. Then I’ll be resurrected three days later so that you can know that the Father is faithful to His word: redemption and restoration has come to you.”