Inspiration
The Nicene Creed says
that Jesus was crucified FOR US.
That means for you and me personally. So great and so personal is His
love! He has borne my griefs,
and carried my sorrows…He was
wounded for my transgressions, He
was bruised for my iniquities,
the chastisement of my peace was
upon Him, and with His stripes I am healed.
For my sake He hangs on the cross.
For my sins. For my forgiveness!
“For this purpose I have
come to this hour”—for your
forgiveness!
Dr. Blaise Pascal has
been called the greatest mind that ever lived. In his book “A Short History of the Life
of Jesus Christ” he wrote, “At midnight 23 November 1654, Jesus spoke to me and said, ‘Blaise, I was
thinking of you in my agony.’” This
experience caused Pascal to be converted.
It made the crucifixion personal.
“Blaise,” said the voice of Christ, “it was for you I did all
this.” Jesus suffered, died, was
buried, and rose again not for humanity in general but for each one of us
personally—for you!
“For this purpose I have
come to this hour”—for you!
St. Tikhon, the great Russian saint, captured this thought when he
wrote, “You (Lord) were sold and betrayed that we might be freed, we who
were enslaved. You submitted to an
unjust trial—You Who are the judge of all the
earth—that we might be freed from eternal punishment. You were made naked in order to clothe us
in the robes of salvation . . . You were crowned with thorns that we might
receive the crown of life. . . You were laid in a tomb that
we might rise from the tomb . . . This You have done for us, your
undeserving servants, O Lord!
“For this purpose I have
come to this hour”—for your
salvation, for your freedom, for your resurrection!
Both salvation and
damnation begin at the cross. What
do we do with the unspeakable love of God in Christ? Do we allow it to flood us like a river
of light and transform us body, soul, and spirit? That is salvation. Or do we turn away with a shudder of
apathy and plunge into darkness?
That is hell.
“For this purpose I have
come to this hour”—to save you from hell—not only the kind that begins
beyond the grave but also the kind that begins here in this life.
Taken
from: The Great I Came’s of Jesus by Fr. Anthony M. Coniaris, Light
and Life Publishing, 1980
