LIFE & BREATHSample

DAY TWO: LIFE AND BREATH – FROM THE CRADLE TO THE CROSS

“And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.” Mark 15:37 (NKJV)

Yesterday we looked at the blessings of our own breath – and today we turn our attentions to the breath of the ‘Word made flesh’. We’ll start at the cradle, and journey to the cross – beholding the first and last breaths of our Savior.

If we’re not careful, we can limit our celebration of the birth of Christ just to Christmas time each year – it seems to be the primary moment when we think about (and sing about) the birth of the Savior. But it is far too seismic a wonder to limit to just the month of December each year. It’s a mystery of epic proportions – and as such should be forefront in our hearts and minds throughout the year.

In the incarnation we see Almighty God allowing Himself to become vulnerable (how much more vulnerable can you become than a defenceless, fragile, newborn baby?) We see the self-sufficient Creator of all embracing a state of utter dependence. Here is the self-sufficient God, who has need of nothing outside of Himself – now depending upon the next breath to live. This is the self-sustaining God, in human flesh, now subject to the same physical constraints as you or I. The One to whom the angels cry out, “Holy, holy, holy” now crying out Himself as He leaves the womb and gasps for His first few breaths in this world.

Before we move from beholding Jesus’ first breath, and onto the cross where He breathes His last, let us not move too swiftly past the years in-between. One pastor once noted to me how we tend to do in that in our sung worship sometimes – we will sing about cradle and cross - but then we might readily skip past the 33 years of life and breath in-between. The ultimate expression of the heart of God is of course upon Calvary – but even before the cross, the life, the words and the actions of Christ are all clear signposts as to what the heart of God looks like. He could have loved us from afar – but instead He got down in the dust and the dirt with us. He touched the leper. He associated with outcasts. He ate with sinners. He healed the sick. He spoke with the perfect mix of grace and truth. This is the incarnated God – fully human, and fully divine. He is not floating around as some ethereal figure always slightly detached or remote from our own situation – no - He is fully immersed in our world and fully engaged with us. He walks like we walk, He eats like we eat, He feels as we feel. This is the God who breathes and sweats and weeps – and ultimately the God who bleeds:

“Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.” Mark 15:37 (NKJV).

How can it be that the Creator and Sustainer of everything that lives and breathes now surrenders His final breath upon a cruel cross? How can the Giver of life give Himself up to die – and to die in such a way? How can the Maker of all now hang upon these rugged beams of wood that He Himself called into being?

Come let us worship Him today – amazed again at the One who, in love and mercy, gave up His life and breath for us.