Photo by Tiago Aguiar on Unsplash

Dear Followers in Faith,

When I was a kid growing up in Tucson, my parents owned a rental car company. One of the things I dreaded most about this was the “one-way rental” to Phoenix. Why? Because this meant we’d have to drive the seemingly eternal distance from Tucson to Phoenix … and back … to pick up the car and bring it back. In the days before cell phones, in-car DVD players, and even tape decks, the 110-mile trip across the desert, seemed to be forever and day!

This Lent we’ve been remembering what God does for us and to us.  And today, Passion Sunday, we remember … the distance Jesus went to fulfill His Father’s loving desire to redeem His creation. How far did Jesus travel? It’s a distance not measured in miles. It’s the distance from glory to shame & agony and back to glory. Jesus, “who, though He was in the form of God” (Philippians 2:6) and had all the glory being God implies gave up all of it to become a servant, “born in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:7) He reached down from where He lived in the presence of angels singing His praises daily … to the place where people mocked Him, beat Him, and shouted “Crucify, crucify Him!” (Luke 23:21)

Even though He was all-powerful, He submitted Himself to earthly authorities. He carried His cross from the palace … through the twisted streets past hostile crowds … to the top of Mount Calvary. Then, “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8) He could’ve used His almighty powers to heed the taunts of those who said, “Let Him save Himself, if He is the Christ of God,” (Luke 23:35) and “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39) But, instead, He endured suffering to deliver all of creation from bondage to sin. And then rising to new life on the third day, just as He said He would (Luke 9: 22, 9:44, and 18:33), He defeated the power of death – He reached down to give eternal life to all who confess their belief in Him and His work.

Then, mission accomplished through His humble death and glorious resurrection, Jesus returned back to His Father in heaven. There, His Father “highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name.” (Philippians 2:9) What’s more, Jesus was restored to His rightful place of glory so that “every knee should bow, in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” (Philippians 2:10-11) The roundtrip has been made. Because of that, God casts the sins of all who believe in His promise of forgiveness, on account of Jesus’ journey, “as far (away from us) as the east is from the west.” (Psalm 103:12)

We remember, not just this Lent, but every day, how far God was willing to go to bring us into His presence once again. He was willing to go the distance … from the glory of heaven to suffering, death, and resurrection on earth and back to the glory of heaven. Thanks be to God for His infinite grace and mercy!

                                                               In His Love,

                                                               Pastor Jim