How Did Our Father Feel
April 03, 2015 | By Chuck
When my son was about three years old, I remember one specific day when I was chasing him through the front yard. He was laughing as he tried so hard to out run his dad. As he ran from the grass to the pavement of the neighbor's driveway, I was right behind him and accidently stepped on a blanket he was dragging behind. Of course, at that very moment he falls down face first on the pavement. Accidents happen, we know that, but it broke my heart as he was hurt and crying. It doesn't matter if it's physical pain or emotional or how old they are, when our kids hurt, we parents hurt too. If you're a parent you understand that and if you're not a parent, then ask your parents about the validity of that statement. No parent wants their child to hurt. How did our heavenly Father feel when His Son was hurting emotionally in the garden and then in excruciating physical pain on the cross? "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground."(Lk.22:44) This is describing Jesus" emotional pain the night before He endured the cross. Jesus was beaten and mistreated before his body was ever nailed to the cross. (Mt.27:27-31) What if that was your son? How would you have felt? I can't begin to fathom the feelings of our heavenly Father as His Son was in such pain. I realize the pain Jesus endured was part of God's plan to save man from the beginning. I don't know what God felt as His Son hurt and died on the cross, I just don't know. But I do know how God felt about us as His Son bled and died on the cross. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."(Rom.5:8) No matter what God was going through as He sent His Son to the cross, He did it because He loves us. Because of my fleshly nature, I can only assume that God felt some kind of pain while His Son suffered. Since it was God's love for us that sent Jesus to the cross, I would think that God feels some kind of pain when we, His adopted children, hurt today.