From the book: No Wonder They Call Him The Savior by Max Lucado
(Italics are my words)
Pg 28 -- We're angry at someone, but we don't know who. We're scared of something, but we don't know what. We want to fight back, but we don't know how....Yet Jesus begged on the cross, "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Uncontrolled anger won't better our world, but sympathetic understanding will.
Pg 39 -- If there was anything Jesus wanted everyone to understand it was this: a person is worth something simply because he is a person. We need to be loving people...including ourselves.
Pg 41 -- You are valuable just because you exist. Not because of what you do or what you have done, but simply because you are.
When Jesus looked down at Mary from the cross, he had to say goodbye to his mother. He knows about goodbyes.
Jesus knows loneliness as he cried from the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"
Pg 72 -- As Jesus declared, "It is finished" he walked away with wounds. Remember, a finisher is not one with no wounds or weariness. Quite to the contrary, he, like the boxer, is scarred and bloody.
Pg 87 -- As far as we know, he [Barabbas] took his sudden freedom for what it was, an undeserved gift. Someone tossed him a life preserver and he grabbed it, no questions asked....We take our free gift and try to earn it or diagnose it or pay for it instead of simply saying "thank you" and accepting it.
Doubting Thomas...he doubted but he was so completely loyal to Jesus. God is patient with us and while most of us doubt our loyalty is what's important.
It's interesting the two men who took Jesus' body off of the cross and prepared it for burial were two members of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus. I can imagine what was going through their hearts as they carefully cleaned, dressed with spices and rags the Son of God's body for burial.
Pg 129 -- God may we never be so "educated," may we never be so "mature," may we never be so "religious" that we can see your passion without tears.
Pg 157 -- Mark (14:32) used black paint to describe this scene. We see an agonizing, straining, and struggling Jesus. We see a "man of sorrows." We see a man struggling with fear, wrestling with commitments, and yearning for relief. We see Jesus in the fog of a broken heart. The next time the fog finds you, you might do well to remember Jesus in the garden. The next time you are called to suffer pay attention. It may be the closest you'll ever get to God. Watch closely. It could very well be that the hand that extends itself to lead you out of the fog is a pierced one.
Pg 167 -- I don't care how bad you are. You can't be bad enough to forget it. And I don't care how good you are. You can't be good enough to overcome it. You need a Savior.
Pg 185 -- Christ died when we were still sinners. His sacrifice, then, was not dependent on our performance.
Pg 194 -- God is not stumped by an evil world. He doesn't gasp in amazement at the depth of our faith or the depth of our failures. We can't surprise God with our cruelties. He knows the condition of the world...and loves it just the same. For just when we find a place where God would never be (like on a cross), we look again and there he is, in the flesh.
Ok you're probably thinking I just copied the whole book down but this was such a great book. I'm not sure if it was the fact that Max Lucado is a great writer, perhaps it was the viewpoints he displayed in the book and the stories he told, but they helped me see the events and people surrounding Jesus' death and resurrection in a whole new way. I think I read the short, "gift" version of this book, so now I want to read the real version. I recommend you do the same.
2 comments:
Wow, Cara. That sounds like a great book to read. Many of those quotes echo the things that God has really been trying to teach me of late, of His love, and His grace, and His friendship, just as is. Not to hang my head in shame of how awful I am, nor to boast in pride of how loved I am, but to revel in His goodness and fly in love. It's a beautiful freedom.
I am reading Blue Like Jazz right now. I realize I'm a little slow on that bandwagon, but I have finally gotten around to it, and am really loving it. Have you read that one yet?
I LOVE Max Lucado! I have always enjoyed his writing and his thought provoking insights! I was particularly touched by the quote on page 157--but you know my love for Jesus in the garden. :-) Anyway, thanks for sharing! They were all very powerful!
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