Several hundred feet beneath a mans chair is a lake, an underground cavern of crystalline water known as the Edwards Aquifer. He a south Texan knows much about this aquifer. He know it's length (175 miles) He knows its layout ( west to east )except under San Antonio
where it runs (north and south.) He knows the water is pure. Fresh. It Irrigates farms and waters lawns and fills pools and quenches thirst. He knows much about the aquifer.
But for all the facts he does know, there is an essential one he doesn't know. He doesn't know its size. The depth of the cavern? A mystery. Number of gallons? Unmeasured. No one knows the amount of water the aquifer contains...Could this be? So he decided to find out. He called a water conservationist. That's right, he affirmed. We estimate. We try to measure. But the exact quantity no one knows.
Bring to mind another unmeasured pool? Not a pool of water but a pool of love. God's love. Aquifer fresh. Pure as April snow. One swallow slackens the thirsty throat and softens the crusty heart. Immerse a life in God's love, and watch it emerge cleansed and changed. We know the impact of God's love.
But the volume? No person has ever measured it.
Moral meteorologists, worried we might exhaust the supply otherwise. " Don't drink too deeply," they caution, recommending rationed portions. Some people after all, drink more than their share.
But who has plumbed the depths of God's Love? Only God has. Want to see the size of my love? He invites. Ascend the winding path outside of Jerusalem. Follow the dots of bloody dirt until you crest the hill. Before looking up, pause and hear me whisper, "This is how much I love you."
Whip-ripped muscles drape his back. Blood rivulets over his face. His eyes and lips are swollen shut. Pain rages at wildfire intensity. As he sinks to relieve the agony of his legs, his airway closes. At the edge of suffocation, he shoves pierced muscles against the spike and inches up the cross. He does this for hours. Painfully up and down until his strength and our doubts are gone.
DOES GOD LOVE YOU? BEHOLD THE CROSS, AND BEHOLD YOUR ANSWER.
Living in a world of choices, it isn't hard for us to assume that Jesus is optional. We can easily accept the suggestion that he is one good model among many good models. One great teacher in a long line of great teachers. A godly man, but surely not God. And yet the teaching of the book of Hebrews brings us back to the stark truth. Jesus did something no one else could do, has done, or will do. He struck a bargain with God on our behalf. He served as sacrificial lamb and sacrificing priest. As the God-man, he did what no other human could do. His role for us isn't optional, but essential. we can reject it or accept it. But we dare not consider Jesus only and option but our eternal answer.
