What Wondrous Love Is This?

Most of the time, as a Christian, I concentrate on the resurrection instead of the crucifixion. Death and suffering are no longer permanent or final. When I approach the story of Jesus' trial and death, I know how it will end—with his triumphant rising three days later. Jesus' death was a calculated move, a price he considered acceptable for the salvation he could win for all people by doing it. It seems reasonable when I look at it that way. But what really happened goes far beyond the limits of reason.

Jesus chose to die so that he could achieve an outcome he wanted, but the outcome was entirely for someone else—for us. Jesus' immortality was never at stake. He didn't need to win salvation for himself. He is already fully God and is therefore perfect within himself and lacking nothing. But God loves us, so He chooses to make sacrifices in order to achieve good for us. Jesus died so that we could live, and the only direct benefit he got from it was the joy of knowing what he had done for us.

How many of us make serious sacrifices entirely for the benefit of other people? Sure, I give my time and money to other people. Sometimes I give time and money I don't feel entirely comfortable parting with, but I always keep enough back to take care of myself. Would I give a kidney to someone who needed it? Probably. I can live without one of my kidneys. Would I volunteer to die so that someone else could have my heart? That's a different question entirely. There are heroes among us who are willing to sacrifice their lives for other people, but we still have trouble really comprehending the enormity of that concept. We say we would walk through fire for the people we love, but do we understand what that really means? Can we visualize the burns and imagine the pain? Are we really willing to endure something like that for others if we get no direct personal benefit from the sacrifice? Jesus was willing, and that is why we have a future. What wondrous love, indeed!

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul!