By Rae Lynn DeAngelis
During the 1970’s, my parents purchased a sixty-three acre farm (a vacation home of sorts) with their best friends. This countryside estate became our home away from home.
I have such fond memories from our days on the farm, especially playing in the barn. The rickety old structure provided hours of enjoyment for all nine of us kids.
I remember constructing intricate forts with bales of hay and pretending it was our home. Sometimes we jumped off the 2nd floor loft into a soft cushion of straw below. We played kick the can and hide and seek, but one of my most cherished memories was the time we put on a play. The loft became our stage. Our parents and a few unsuspecting neighbors were kind enough to engage in our attempts at stardom. We spent hours preparing for our rendition of The Sound of Music—a movie we had watched so many times we knew the script by heart.
Although the barn provided endless hours of fun, it included a few inherent risks. Sometimes, beneath the layers of accumulated fodder and hay, fractured boards lay hidden with rusty nails protruding pointy side up. Our parent’s warned us about the possible dangers of playing in a hundred year old structure, but sometimes we became so engrossed in our playtime activities that we grew careless and paid the price.
Knowing just how painful a nail in the foot can be I cringe at the thought of Jesus impaled to a cross by His hands and feet.
The physical suffering that Jesus endured was horrific for sure, but it did not compare with the mental, emotional, and spiritual anguish our Savior faced as He hung on the cross. Every sin of mankind (past, present, and future) was thrust upon our Lord, a weight so heavy only God Himself could carry it.
Jesus, God in the flesh, took every bit of our sin and nailed it to the cross.
“Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30)
The King of Glory suffered, died, and was buried. But that was just the beginning.
On the third day, that glorious and wondrous third day, our Lord and Savior, who is tough as nails, did what only He could do.
Jesus, my Savior, rose from the dead and conquered death once and for all!
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:3-7)
