Consider Jesus

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:3 NIV)

Lord,
Hateful, angry men
Conspired to murder
You…
The truth…and
Anyone…or
Anything that got in
Their way.

Even though
YOU were YaHWeH’s Good-News-in-the-flesh,
They lied about You…
They gossiped about You…
They maligned you.

You are LIFE!
You are TRUTH!
YOU are THE ONE WAY
To YaHWeH!

Yet, while You
Spoke the truth to them,
Giving out YaHWeH’s Good News…
Whenever and wherever You could,
You did not roast them
On the spot…
Instead
You worked…and
Prayed
For their repentance,
NEVER
Did You damn them…
Instead
You warned them
Of Gehenna…
Of YaHWeH’s wrath…
Of the certainty of
The YaHWeH-truth
Winning out…in
The End.

Your mission among us
Was to
Point out our dilemma
And
To offer Good News…
To pray…
To work…for our
Repentance.

In this You were
Tireless…until
At last
The Good News bled
Into earth’s dirt…as
The one thing
That could redeem
The human race.

You endured
The cross…
Us sin-driven people…
The Father’s discipline…
The Father’s final wrath…
For us.

This makes
Vivid
What You prayed:
“For their sakes
I sanctify Myself.”

What the Father
Did
To You
Was small
Compared to what
You
Did to Yourself…
For our sakes.
The Father’s discipline
Could have no fruit
Without
Your whole-hearted
Cooperation…and it
Is the same with us…
Unless
We bend ourselves
Under
The mighty hand of God,
All
Of His efforts…
Of Your efforts…
Of the Spirit’s efforts…
Will not take
Root in our hearts
Where
They are meant to grow.

Not
my will
but Yours
be done.