Who Takes the Son: A Holy Week Reflection
Updated: Sep 7, 2020
There once was a story of a wealthy man and his son who loved to collect rare works of art. But the son went to war and was killed trying to save his fellow soldier and his father deeply grieved for him.
About a month after, the father was visited by the soldier for whom his son gave his life. He handed him a portrait of his son which he painted himself. The portrait really captured his son’s personality. The father wanted to pay him for the portrait, but he refused telling him that he could never repay what his son did for him.
The father hung the portrait and would always show it to his guests before showing them to his other collections.
One day, the father died and an auction for his collections was arranged. A lot of rich people came to have the chance to buy one of the paintings.
As the auctioneer made the first bid for the son’s portrait, everybody was telling him to skip that painting since they only wanted the expensive collections. But the auctioneer persisted calling, “The son! The son! Who wants the son?” As everyone was complaining that they didn’t want the portrait of the son, the long-time gardener of the owner bid $10 for the painting since it was all he could afford. When the auctioneer persisted if anybody could bid higher, the crowd was getting angrier, so he pounded his gavel and declared it sold for $10.
When the crowd told him to proceed to the next painting, the auctioneer told them that the auction was already over. Only the son’s portrait would be auctioned. Whoever got the son’s portrait would inherit the entire estate including the paintings.
How many of us are so engrossed with life’s earthly things? How many of us are so wrapped up with wanting more? We tend to exhaust ourselves looking for happiness that we forget the real reason why we have all these things in the first place.
Even when we are downtrodden, we worry too much not knowing there’s a God who can alleviate the burden that we are going through.
The cross is there but we tend to look the other way. It’s so easy for us to forget God when things are going well in our lives. Most of the time, we choose to be engulfed with worldly pleasures that we have already ignored being spiritual.
We all have our share of bad times. I once had that time when I questioned God why He couldn’t just make things easier for me. I questioned Him if I was really His child. Why was it so easy for others while He let me struggle? I knew my faith was faltering and I was letting my emotions rule me.
Then I remembered what Jesus suffered just to save us from our sins. I remembered when He cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It made me weep and asked for His forgiveness. I truly forgot what He had done for me just because I wanted more. I totally ignored what He had given me because I was rushing Him for something else.
Why do we have to take the Son?
The Son healed the leper. – Matthew 8:1-4
The Son made the blind man see. – John 9:1-12
The Son raised Lazarus from the dead. – John 11:38-44
The Son turned water into wine. – John 2:1-11
The Son fed five thousand people by multiplying the 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. – Matthew 14:13-21
The Son was crucified to save us from our sins. – 1 Peter 3:18
Life will never be perfect. We can’t have everything. But if we take the Son, He will heal us from any affliction that we are going through. If we take the Son, every burden becomes lighter. If we take the Son, we can handle every problem that we encounter. If we take the Son, every worry is eased by His presence in our lives.
As we enter another Holy Week, let us be reminded how God sacrificed His only Son for us. With all the pain and suffering He went through, He endured it all to vindicate us from the bondage of sins.
As what the story is telling us, let us take the Son so that we can have everything in this life and a life everlasting in His arms.
Before I end this blog, I want to share with you the song “In Christ Alone” by Brian Littrell which will make us take the Son even more.
Have a blessed Good Friday, everyone!