He Died for His Wife

My Grandparents, Edward and Helen Losli

My grandparents had a wonderful, yet interesting marriage. The last decades of their lives they had what seemed to be a well-timed trade off.

My grandmother had many serious heart ailments and multiple heart surgeries from the time I was old enough to know what those terms meant. But as far as I know, my grandfather was in great health, but that changed as they aged. When my grandmother’s health failed, my grandfather was strong; but when he became ill and incapacitated, she was surprisingly strong.

My grandfather lived for my grandmother, but he didn’t die for her.

The Bible describes the relationship between Christ Jesus and the Church as like that of husband and wife. Yet there is a vast difference between Him and the Church and earthly husbands and wives. Jesus suffered more for the Church than any human husband has ever suffered.

Jesus suffered the loss of all He possessed, surrendering His splendor as Heaven’s born Prince to shelter in the womb of a servant girl. The King became a pauper by choice.

The Glory of God became a helpless Babe, a rough-handed Carpenter, a Suffering Servant and Man of Sorrows. He was humiliated, despised, and crucified between thieves. The Creator who adorned the blackness of space with flickering stars by the word of His power, was crowned with bloody thorns. The Friend to sinners died to make us friends of God.

Without concern for His own welfare, Jesus, the Bridegroom plunged into the ocean depths of the Father’s wrath to become the rescue for His bride.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5:25).

Tasting Death

Now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone (Hebrews 2:8-9).

Soap is used to clean something dirty. In our house, the penalty for lying or saying dirty words was the same: cleaning the mouth with soap. The child got to choose liquid or solid soap, and it had to be kept in the mouth for at least 60 seconds.

Before enacting such punishment, I always tasted the soap myself, putting a spoonful on my own tongue. I never handed out punishment without first personally experiencing it myself; it was a safeguard against discipline too great.

The writer to the Hebrew Christians says “we do not see” … “but we see Jesus.” We don’t yet see all the benefits of Jesus’ death on the cross, but we do see Jesus. When the eternal Son of God became a full-blooded human (without giving up a scintilla of His deity), He became a little lower than the angels. Taking on humanity wasn’t a promotion for the Creator, but a humbling of unfathomable depths.

His suffering of death resulted in Him being crowned with glory. Yet the full experience of Christ’s suffering and death is still not fully realized. Sin still strangles the human race, and death remains one-per-person. But Jesus’ story didn’t end in death. It also didn’t conclude with His resurrection or His ascension to the right hand of God the Father in majesty. There is yet another chapter to His story, one yet to be played out – His Second Coming will make the full blessings of salvation evident.

Jesus’ condescension and death were by the grace of God. All too often we think of God’s grace as deliverance from pain and death, but in Jesus’ case it was grace that brought His death. And in His death, death itself became Christ’s victim.

The writer says in His death, Jesus tasted death for us. The word “tasted” doesn’t mean licked or nibbled, but to partake fully, to consume completely. Jesus didn’t die a wee bit to see what it would be like. He didn’t suffer because He needed it or deserved it. Jesus was tortured, humiliated, and died a painful death for you and me. He fully consumed death, licking the plate served Him fully clean, if you will, so we might have eternal life through faith in Him.

Kamba Wisdom – Proverbs

We sat late into the night laughing together. Isaac shared proverbs from his native Kamba culture and I had to try and figure out what they meant.

U wi kivetani nduthekaa ula wi iko

The translation is:  one in the woodpile does not laugh at one in the fire. In other words, don’t laugh at the trouble of another person because it may happen to you next.

One day I shared the American proverb, Time is money. In a culture where the Swahili hakuna matata (no worries) is the rule of thumb, my proverb didn’t make much sense.

Then we went to the bank. After waiting over an hour to see a teller, Isaac laughed and repeated my earlier proverb: Time is money. Time is valuable, so don’t waste it doing things slowly. It made perfect sense to him.

A proverb is a wise saying. The Bible has an entire collection of these in a section called … wait for it … Proverbs! It’s a collection wise and pithy sayings of King Solomon and the ancient Israelites. As you read them, you’ll find some of them have been adopted by American culture.

A favorite from my childhood is, A lazy man sleeps soundly but grows hungry (Proverbs 19:15, The Living Bible).

God’s wisdom is different than man’s wisdom. He sees things from a different, heavenly perspective. What man thinks is smart and wise, God laughs at and calls foolishness.

First Corinthians 1:30 calls Jesus the wisdom of God. He gave up Heaven to become a helpless Baby. He set aside His glory to become a Man. He laid away His kingly robes to become a Servant. He surrendered His life to become the Sacrifice for sinners. He died so others would live.

Laughable to men; unfathomable wisdom of God in action.