No wonder Jim Elliot cried...

We've been reading through the Gospel of John in our Greek class this semester, and tonight as I was preparing for class, I read chapter 19, about the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. I've read this story countless times, but it was different tonight.

As I was struggling through some of the vocabulary and just going through the chapter word by word, I was caught in the story. I wasn't able to read through it quickly and be on my way. It was as if I were reading it for the first time. And in my drawn-out reading of it, I got a tiny taste of how drawn-out that night must have been for Jesus...and for those who loved him. It was like this constant chain of events...I'm sure there was waiting in between, but it was just one thing after another. They took Jesus before Annas, then they took him before Pilate, then the crowd shouted, "Crucify!". They "gave him slaps" and they scourged him, and they took his clothes, and they insulted him, and they crucified him.

I'm writing about it now because I needed to walk away for a minute...it all comes so heavily.

I read somewhere that when Jim Elliot read the account of Jesus' crucifixion for a class like mine, he wept. I can see why now.

It makes chapter 20 that much more amazing and beautiful, too. If the story ended at John 19, I don't know what I'd do. And in light of a death like that...to see Life overcome it overwhelms me.