In YW’s today we reviewed the last few days of the Savior’s life. We talked about the betrayal by Judas, the atonement in Gethsemane, the crucifixion, and the Resurrection.
Some things came to my mind as I pondered these last events of the Savior’s life. Judas betrayed Jesus for a few pieces of silver, and we often hear that story and listen with disbelief. It got me thinking about what it is that the rest of us betray the Savior for. For friends? For popularity, the praise of the world, wealth, momentary satisfaction? So much of what Judas did is what we also do. While his was for money and his betrayal resulted in the Savior’s physical death, our betrayals might seem small and hardly significant or of consequence. But if in fact I was the only one person on this earth and had committed only one sin, the Savior would still have had to do what He did because of my one sin. How many of my sins contributed to his Atonement? So many. When I think of it like that, I remember that every sin, every transgression, is in its own way betraying the One who atoned for all of our sins – the big and seemingly small ones.
I think it is important to understand that Jesus’ crucifixion isn’t the highlight of his atonement. While his death was horrific and those who carried it our were cold and without feeling, many people since the beginning of time have suffered far more physically painful deaths than Jesus did. There are people that have been brutally murdered and tortured more so than the Savior was. What made his pains greater than any other human being that has ever walked the earth was the pain that He suffered on his knees in Gethsemane. There, in the garden, He took upon Himself the weight and cruelty and bitterness of sin in every form and pain to the greatest degree. There He felt what it was like to feel the sorrows of every mankind, and not just the sorrow for sin, but for every infirmity that every human being would ever feel or had ever felt on this earth. When I think of my greatest pain and multiply it by every human being’s personal experiences of pain, sorrow, suffering, and sin, it is miraculous to think that One could take upon Himself such endless amounts of human suffering. He didn’t just die – He died with the weight of every human being’s pain upon Him so that we might escape the eternal punishment of those sins. He died that we might live and live more abundantly.
It is sweet to think that after the Savior’s darkest days and loneliest hours, after his lonely death on the cross, the He rose and triumphed over death and every worldly sorrow that we too might gain eternal salvation and triumph over our worldly sorrows. It is a beautiful reminder that after the night comes the bright light of the morning. It is sweet to know that death cannot claim us because He freed us from those bonds.
Because of Him, I know that eternal salvation is mine if I’ll choose it and choose Him. Because of Him, I know that there is no pain that I bear alone. “Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows.” And He did that in Gethsemane so that He could free me from sin on the conditions of repentance. He did that in Gethsemane so that when sorrows are upon me He can say, “I know your griefs, I’ve carried your sorrows, and I have the answers to help you.” Because of Him I know that one day we will cry no more tears, all that we have lost will be restored to us, and we can move forward knowing that the best is yet to come. Because of Him, I have life, and I have it more abundantly.
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