Acts 4:8-12
Salvation is Found Only in Jesus
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is
“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Luke 14:25-35
The Cost of Being a Disciple
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
John 15:9-17
Jesus LOVES His Disciples
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Leviticus 17:10-12
The Life of the Creature in in His Blood
10 “‘I will set my face against any Israelite or any foreigner residing among them who eats blood, and I will cut them off from the people. 11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. 12 Therefore I say to the Israelites, “None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner residing among you eat blood.”
Hebrews 9:16-22
Blood, Suffering, and Atonement
16 In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
John 19:31-37
Jesus Was Speared in the Side
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
Jesus told His Disciples that He LOVED them...And we know that Jesus suffered on the cross as we read the four gospels...St. Peter said that salvation is found in no one else except Jesus, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved...Suffering, salvation, and love are linked because of Jesus...And as we read the gospels we find the connection of suffering, salvation, and love...
We can see how salvation and love are good and great things, but why this suffering link to them?...God's Plan was a strange one...God's Plan is always a Great Mystery...The suffering was first dealt with the Old Testament sacrifices and the use of blood for our atonement for our sins...Moses wrote that in blood is the life of man...God has told us that the life of a creature is in the blood, and God has given the sacrifice of blood to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life...And continuing this thought hundreds and hundreds of years later, the author of Hebrews tells us that when Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people...Moses said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”...In the same way, Moses sprinkled the blood in the tabernacle and used the blood of sacrifices in different ceremonies...In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness...
So without this suffering and the shedding of God's Son's blood on the cross there is no forgiveness...And Jesus died bleeding on the cross, with nails in His hands and being speared in His side...His blood paid our sin debts, and we are forgiven with His blood and His death...
Jesus suffered and died on the cross for mankind...He did this out of His LOVE for us...A greater LOVE has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends...On the cross He atoned for each of our personal sins with His death...So we are saved by Him...God gave us His Son and He atoned for our sins and gave us salvation on the cross, where He suffered and died...And God gives us forgiveness of our sins, each and every one of us...And God did it with His Son through His Son's suffering and dying on the cross...
Suffering seems to be bad and maybe evil as we read the first chapter of Job...Suffering hardly seems to be a happy and peaceful thing...Yet, Jesus has made the suffering experience a Very Great Experience, because it is by His suffering and His death that we are able to experience salvation...And as St. Peter says, salvation is found in no one else...
Jesus never came out and explained why suffering takes place...But He knew He would suffer on the cross and told His disciples that He would die on the cross...Salvation is found on His Cross and each believer sees what Jesus has done for them...We see how taking up the cross requires this “cost”, which He tells His listeners about...Following Jesus makes us go to the cross, to look at the cross, and to look at suffering...Suffering is a very human experience, everyone suffers...And Jesus has brought His suffering down to our own level as we read about Him slowly dying on the cross...
Those watching Jesus hanging from the cross, would have seen no peace or comfort...As we first read about Jesus’ suffering and dying on the cross we do not see or hear, something of peace or something that is peaceful...Yet, we know that there is this peace from the cross...We know that there is this comfort of Jesus suffering and (yes) dying on the cross...So maybe we find a peace in suffering, a love in suffering, and we know we find our salvation in His suffering...So maybe this is where we find this completed joy which Jesus tells His Disciples about...Jesus had taught His Disciples many things, so that His joy would be in them and that their joy may be complete...