“I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”
Psalm 40:1-2
One of my favorite television dramas is McLeod’s Daughters an Australian hit that aired from 2001 - 2009. Great story telling and a super cast of talented actors and actresses account for its continued success worldwide long after the final episode. As I contemplated the cross and the events of Good Friday a scene from that show turned up in my mind as an illustration of the lengths God is willing to go to in order to draw us back to His heart. It would take pages for me to try and describe the scene – so here’s a Reader’s Digest version. A romantic, surprise proposal is in the works, but things don’t go to plan and the couple end up on their hands and knees in mud and cow stuff searching for that special little box. The leading man tells his leading lady that he loves her as he opens the box and as he slips the ring onto her muddied finger he says: “I really love you” – pass the tissues please.
I know this week’s passage isn’t a typical Good Friday or Easter passage but I think it speaks well to how God has chosen to propose to us, to draw us back into His Heart so he can change ours. He came down to pull us out of the mud and mire of a fallen world; we can find him on his hands and knees with us in the messes of our lives. He says I love you with every stroke of the whip on his back, with every stripe that’s left behind. He says I really love you with each nail driven into his innocent flesh and His words of “forgive them” and “it is finished”.
The scene from the television show ends with a yes and the couple covered with mud and cow stuff embracing. As we look to the cross of Good Friday, to the God who willingly gets dirty to save us – will we answer yes to His proposal? Will we embrace the battered, bruised and bloodied Jesus? Will we let His blood wash us clean?
Good Friday proves that HE loves us…that HE REALLY loves us.
A Prayer
Father – thank for the incredible and painful lengths Your Son was willing to go to in order to show us how much we are loved by You. Let our hearts over flow with love as we embrace our bruised and bloodied Savior. Help us to share that amazing, messy love with those around us, so they too can be lifted out of the mud, mire and cow stuff of life by the One who can make them clean and whole. In the name of Jesus who really loves us – we pray – Amen.
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