Escape From Reality

Pen to Paper | January 21, 2011 12:01 am

By Josh Yap, 22, Australia

Feeling down, I reached for my handy music player, hoping for some music therapy. Then Boston by Augustana popped up in my playlist. The chorus echoed my melancholic thoughts:

You don’t know me
And you don’t even care, oh yeah
And you said, you don’t know me
And you don’t wear my chains, oh yeah

Suddenly it struck me that I had no right to sing those words. The words belonged to someone else—Jesus Christ who suffered for our sins. During His times of trial, there was no one who could help, no one who stood by Him (Isaiah 53:3). No one wore His chains, so to speak.

While Jesus carried the cross, He was laughed at and spat on along His way toward death. He was abandoned and disowned by His closest friends—His disciples. He was unwanted, completely alone. How can we ever comprehend God’s love for us, such that He would carry this heavy burden, bearing all the shame and pain?

With a bloodied body and burdened by the yoke, Jesus fell several times on Via Dolorosa. As such, soldiers “seized [Simon from Cyrene] and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus”. (Luke 23:26)

At the hill, Jesus was hung on the cross in full view of everyone, experiencing pure agony for six hours. Mentally and physically tortured, He finally fulfilled God’s salvation plan.

“But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.”
—Isaiah 53:5—

Hence we are exhorted in Hebrews 4:14-16, “So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

In our distress and crisis, we can depend on God’s grace. Lean on it.

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