Easter is just around the corner. Even if someone has not been to a church service all year this is one of two times a year the majority of the population will find themselves dressed in their best clothes walking through the doors of their local church with family in tow. Many of these families will hear the account of Christ dying on the cross and rising from the dead on Sunday morning. Many preachers will highlight different aspects of the days leading up to that fateful morning while others will try to cover all the events leading up to His resurrection in about 45 mins. Whatever the case I am sure even if someone only goes to church during Christmas and Easter I am sure they have heard of Christ praying before being arrested and drug away to Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest. Just in case you have never heard it or read it here is the account from Luke chapter 22 verse 39-44

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Many preachers will use this verse as a way to show how deeply worried Christ was concerning His coming crucifixion. Their sermons may be boiled down to the excruciating pain, torture, and ridicule He would have to endure. The thought of being whipped and nails being driven through His hands and feet were so much of a concern for Him that the stress caused hematohidrosis (the medical term for sweating blood. In case you would think this is made up here is a case from the National Institue of Health documenting such a case). Many preachers will add this stress Jesus endured as another way how He showed His love for us. The point could be boiled down like this “Jesus loved you so much that even the stress of going to the cross, which caused Him to sweat blood, was still not enough to deter Him from His purpose”.

This is the type of sermon I have heard in the churches I have been a part of. But it is incorrect on two fronts first is that Christ did NOT first die for YOU (refer to God Above All to read for whom did Christ die). The second is to believe that Christ was stressed to the point of sweating blood for His upcoming crucifixion.

I find it simply amazing that the one who commands the winds and tells the waves to be quiet, and they listen, would be the same man who would cower in fear of the tree, He created, that He was soon going to be hanging from. This doesn’t make sense. Why would Christ, who boldly walked into the Jewish temple and drove everyone out with a whip because it had become a marketplace be the same man fearing for His health and well being? How can one man show command over nature, no fear of men, speak openly about His death with not a tremble in His voice, and face down those who had previously called Him satan become so terrified of a spear and nails to the point He sweats blood in less than a day? How is it that the most consistent person who has and ever will live go from being the boldest person I know, proclaiming and showing His Father’s love, to one that is worried for His own life? How does He go from making sure everyone knows His Father, regardless of His own life, to being torn between His own well being and doing the very thing He was born to do?  This is so inconsistent that it is laughable! There is no way Jesus Christ was ever worried, scared, or unsure about going to the cross!

In, fact how could the martyrs of the New Testament and in Church tradition be said to be signing worship songs and cheerfully going to their deaths by crucifixion, eaten alive, or burned at the stake but their leader was afraid of this same outcome? Trust me if you hear a preacher this Easter or at any time say that Christ was afraid of His execution please correct Him winsomely as this is false teaching.

So what would it be that would cause Christ to become so stressed out that blood would mix with His sweat due to exploding capillaries? Because for the first time ever The Triune God was divided. This should add some gravity to 2 Cor 5:21

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Time and again we read in the Bible that God can not look on or even be a part of sin. From Genesis when Adam and Eve were kicked out of paradise to Revelation verses show time and again that God can not have anything to do with sin.

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Hab 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing

Matthew 27:46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

The last one is Jesus on the cross crying out for the first time since His arrest for His Father. Beginning in the garden Jesus knew the intimacy He shared with His Father from before time began would be torn apart. His source of comfort and security would be taken away from Him. Christ would become sin.

Can you imagine the very person that you know you can count on the one that always has your back the one who would do anything in their power to come alongside you and walk with you through any valley live has to offer is the one who, when you needed it most, turns their back on you? We can go through anything as long as we have a support system in place to ensure we will not go through it alone. But the time when Christ needed His support system the most He was left all alone. I am sure we have all felt abandoned at some point, but no one knows what that feels like more than Christ. Christ cries out “Father where are you? Why are you so distant from me I need you?” But in return, all He hears is silence from Heaven. Christ knew this division was coming when He was in the Garden praying. He knew He could endure the cross but He had to wrestle with the knowledge He would have to endure the cross alone separated from His Father. How horrific is Sin that Jesus was forced to lose His Father’s support in His most dire moments! All because He became sin for us. The stress of losing His support form His Dad would cause Christ to agonize to the point His sweat would turn to blood.

This is how terrible sin is! Sin is the reason God turns His back on His Son. Sin is the reason why Isaiah says “It was the Father PLEASURE to CRUSH His own Son” Isaiah 53:10. It is sin that fractured the relationship between God and His Son. It was sin that divorced Christ from Heaven. It was sin that Christ put on Himself and it was the sin that Christ became that died on that cross. It was His Fathers pleasure to crush His Son in this way so that way true glory and worship could forever given to the Father through us. We are saved through this act.

We miss how big of a deal Easter is because we don’t truly understand how truly horrific is sin. We believe that a “little” lie is not a big deal. We believe that we are somehow good people. We believe that my being kind sometimes, only talking about people a little bit, sharing inappropriate news, thinking the other people are bad drivers so I can get upset at them, are not so egregious that they are not a big deal.

But look at the cross. Look at His wounds, look at the division sin caused, look at the blood-soaked dirt and I DARE you to tell me that you are a good person worthy of this kind of sacrifice! You are not as great as you think you are. The only reason we are even able to have any conversation about salvation is that when Christ died He became our sin. The reason why you can have a relationship with the One that knows you better than you know yourself and the reason you can live eternally with those you love is that He was willing to endure the separation your sin caused and defeated death by rising again. If sin wasn’t that big of a deal why did Christ give up the worship of Angles, the Throne of Heaven, and the unity of the Trinity?

Here is the thing. Most people think of sin as an action they commit and stop there. So it makes sense to say “a white lie isn’t that big of a deal”. Which when committed against another person it isn’t. But we forget who we are committing our sin against. Think of this another way: what happens if you kill a mouse? probably nothing. What about a dog? you might get shamed by friends and family or pay a fine or community service of some kind. What if you kill a person? you’re going to be charged with at least involuntary manslaughter and will have to serve a harsher penalty than killing the dog. What if you killed the President of The United States of America? You will be sentenced to death!

See the issue of killing isn’t that big of a deal when committed against a mouse. But it is a huge deal when committed against the President. So what should we expect if we commit treason against an eternal and holy God? Even if we view a negative action or thought as “simple”, because we did not do anything against a person, we are still guilty because we are not perfectly Holy. We then deserve eternal punishment because God is eternal. We are guilty because we lack holiness and we deserve eternal punishment because of who God is not because of who we are. We have to stop thinking sin is something we do negatively against each other. We need to be acutely aware that sin is always against a perfect, holy, and good God who sentences us according to this level of righteousness. If we do not live up to His standard, no matter how minor we think it is, we are determined as guilty.

But look, regardless of all that you are loved more than you’ll ever know. Christ desires to call you family and died so you could be adopted into His family. The only way that could happen is if the issue of sin was dealt with. Which Christ willingly did, without fear or stress. Your sin was killed on that tree when Christ became sin. The power sin has over your life is death. The power of sin was defeated on Easter morning when Christ rose from the dead. Through the cross, sin was punished. Through His resurrection, the power of sin (which is death) was defeated. This is why Chirst HAS to be the ONLY way to God. Because He was the only one who lived a perfectly Holy life, became Sin, died and rose from the dead. No one else in History has ever done that. Christ’s death on the cross gave you His righteousness so you can stand before a Holy God innocent of everything you’ve ever said or done against Him. All the “little” thoughts or words you’ve said against someone else are all nailed with Him on the cross 2,000 years ago.

He willingly allowed Himself to be separated from His Father. Even though this separation caused Him great distress, He willingly allowed Himself to endure it. He wanted to see your sin was adequately paid for so you’d NEVER have to know what it would be like to live, for one minute, divorced from a Heavenly support system.

This is what Easter is all about. Christ enduring all the negatives of sin, separated from Heaven, abandonment, shame, and ultimately death, so you would never have to know how truly devastating sin is. We might get to taste it’s destructive force, we might have to endure some of the things Christ did but we do not have to face them in their fullness or for eternity from a God that is love AND just.