April 14, 2022 – Click here to listen
I’ve only deeply loved a very few people in my life, but my brother Jim was one of them. The most difficult time in my life, (and I have had many), was when he committed suicide. I have not experienced such grief nor wept like that before or since his death.
After his death I remember lying on my bed with the shades drawn all by myself and rethinking our life together. We faced tough times and good times together. We had our sibling rivalries to be sure and I cannot say we always got along, but I can say that in our own way we profoundly loved each other always.
As I laid there, I remembered our lives together as children, hunting, fishing, playing sports, laughing together until our sides nearly split, playing guitar and singing together. I remembered our reputation in school was not to mess with ONE of the Williamsons unless you were prepared to deal with BOTH of the Williamsons. We stuck together.
I agonized over what I might have done to somehow avert this disaster. My mind wandered and I began to think about the days ahead, including attending his funeral and burial. I think one of the saddest things in the world is for a family to experience suicide. I absolutely dreaded going to that funeral and as I laid there in the darkness of my room, I prayed in deep anguish that God would give me the strength to get through it somehow.
God gently reminded me of the time that my brother came to Atlanta and got down on his knees and accepted Jesus as His Savior and asked for forgiveness and how he was wonderfully saved and later Baptized with his wife and young son. All his sins, including his suicide, were forgiven and the Lord also reminded me that no one, “nothing”, can ever take away one of His children from Him in this world or the next.
As I laid there in my grief, I visualized my brother in heaven being cared for by Jesus Christ, free at last from his depression and tortured existence on this earth brought on primarily because of the death of his five-year-old son to a brain tumor.
My brother is just one of many that have gone on to be with Jesus in paradise despite of his sins which were completely forgiven through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
We need to remind ourselves often of the tremendous sacrifice that Jesus made in order that we might be reunited with Him. Recently I watched the “The Passion of the Christ” again. The movie started out with Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was in anguish because He knew all the terrible things that He was soon going to experience. The Bible states that Jesus prayed so intensely that blood was flowing from His brow as if it were sweat.
In the end, God answered His prayer and God gave Him the strength to endure His brutal crucifixion and Jesus went on to face His ordeal comforted in the knowledge that in just three days on Sunday, His resurrection would soon be realized, and He would take His rightful place on His throne in heaven. Thanks to His sacrifice all of humanity would now have a choice to be forgiven and join Him there
If you have not seen the movie by Mel Gibson recently or ever, I highly encourage you to do so. Great pains were taken to portray what Christ endured accurately and biblically. It is difficult to watch. Jesus was so bloody, and His face was so swollen that He was almost unrecognizable by the time He had been beaten, scourged, spit upon, humiliated, and crucified. Tears will well in your eyes, and you will be moved. With each blow that He received, (and there were many), I thought of various sins that I have committed in my life, and I reviewed in my mind that with each blow that He received that Jesus was taking “my” punishment for a particular sin. I have committed terrible sins but He had never sinned. He was gentle, humble, and radiated compassion and love from His every fiber, even asking God to forgive those who crucified Him because they didn’t know what they were doing. I deserved my punishment and yet He willingly took it for me. Amazing grace how sweet the sound.
As I think back to that day when I was lying on my bed, thinking of Jim, and questioning whether I would have the courage and strength to get through his funeral and burial without completely breaking down, it reminds me of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane praying for strength and courage to endure His moment on the cross.
I realize that the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made that day some 2000 plus years ago and His resurrection three days later made it possible for us to have the courage and strength to face the cruel death of a loved one (or anything else Satan can conjure up) to torment us because Jesus Christ has ARISEN! Death has been defeated and we can look to that for our comfort! This life can no longer defeat any Christian, even when we make mistakes of the most severe nature. Jesus looked to the cross with anguish and dread, but He knew that the resurrection was a-coming! If you appreciate what God did for you on the cross, then tell others about it! Go tell it on the mountain and everywhere! And go to church this Easter Sunday and think about His sacrifice for you and the entire world.
Mark 16:15
And He said to them, “Go into all of the world
and preach the gospel to every creature.
He who believes and is Baptized will be saved;
but he who does not believe will be condemned.