The Courage of Jesus

Easter may be behind us, but I can’t stop thinking about something that struck me in the days prior to it: the amazing amount of courage Jesus displayed leading up to his death.

The fact that God keeps bringing this aspect of Easter to mind has been a good reminder for me to pause when God is teaching me something. Just because Easter is over doesn’t mean we need to rush onto the next thing. We flip through the calendar like we’re flipping through channels. Onto the next thing as soon as one thing is over. So I’m going to pause here for a moment and explore Jesus’ courage.

When I was in my teens, I was part of my church’s musical production about the life of Jesus. I’ve always loved acting, and it was amazing to be a part of something that felt like being in community theater. One of the most amazing parts of the experience was being swept up in what it must have been like to follow Jesus while He walked the earth. And one thing I’ll never forget is the ominous feeling I’d get as the second half of the production played out. Because we all knew what was coming. Every act was leading up to the crucifixion. It felt inescapable.

But Jesus had a choice. In John, Jesus says: “‘For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.’” (John 10:17-18 NASB)

He willingly, courageously faced death on the cross, knowing full well what would come. The stress was so great that as He prayed before His arrest, He sweat blood (Luke 22:44 NIV).

And yet, He didn’t turn aside from what God had called Him to. That kind of courage is hard for me to even comprehend.

When the Bible calls us to have courage or take heart, we can trust the fact that Jesus has been through worse than we can imagine, and that He is a trustworthy source of courage. “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NASB)

We can depend on Jesus to strengthen our courage because we know he has overcome everything in this world we could fear, including death. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)

And we get to pass on that courage. Because we look to Jesus for our courage, we can encourage others. (Hebrews 3:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:14)

Jesus held onto the promises of God, and that trust and faith gave Him the courage to endure. He knew the cross wasn’t the end. “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2b NIV)

And that was my favorite part of the musical at my church. If everything leading up to the crucifixion felt inevitable, everything after that filled me with a sense of joyful anticipation. Because we got to reenact the most miraculous event in all of history: Jesus’ resurrection.

Our Savior lives. How encouraging is that?