At the church I have been attending here in Colorado, they showed this short video clip this past Sunday before we took communion. It is about a man who works as a bridge master for a railroad line- the person who is in charge or raising and lowering the train bridges- who represents God, and his son who represents Jesus. Here is a link to the you tube video if you would like to watch:
Watching it was so powerful for me- being able to see the loving act that God made in the sacrifice of His son in a way that was very real. The son who represented Jesus loved the people on the trains- each of them in their broken selves; none of them seemingly deserved any of that love- they were broken, angry, lonely, selfish, and addicted, just as we all are. They all had their own problems and were far from perfect yet the son loved them EXACTLY that way, not because they acted like they had it all together- just because of who they are. This is exactly how Jesus loves us… and that is why the son saw the need so desperate to get the bridge down and save the people on the train.
Both the Father and the son saw the impending death as a result of the train crash- the same way that the penalty for our sin is death. The son runs to put the bridge down manually and as he does so he falls into the gears and the father is now placed with a choice- sacrifice the entire train to save His son or sacrifice his son to save the entire train.
Jesus chose to be that sacrifice for us because he loves us- just like that boy loved the people on the trains. That is so beautiful and I feel like that is usually where I put my focus in the message of redemption, but what I usually don’t think about is the sacrifice that came on God’s behalf. Seeing that struggle and pain of the bridge master as God really moved me. All of the people drive by on the tracks oblivious to the sacrifice that was just made to save their lives- just as so many people go through their lives on the earth oblivious to the sacrifice that God made in giving up his son so that they may be saved and have eternal life. So many of those people he saved on the train will go back to their selfish, lonely, angry, empty lives and never even acknowledge him and yet he still gave his son to save them. How amazing is that? That is how loved we are-
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:6-8
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