“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16, 17).
In 1984, the song, “What’s Love Got to Do with it? was sung by Tina Turner and became an instant hit! I looked up the lyrics, and it was the chorus that caught my attention:
“Oh-oh, what’s love got to do with it? What’s love but a second-hand emotion? What’s love got to do, got to do with it? Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?”
It appears that the author is reasoning that the act of loving takes place in the heart. And therefore, in order to keep from being hurt, one should avoid, as much as possible, having a heart. This thought brings to mind the phrase, “Have a heart!” Meaning, Show some love.
The songwriter refers to love as a second-hand emotion, which, I believe, contradicts the notion that it could cause a broken heart. A heart is not that easily broken, physically or emotionally. It requires pain beyond the ordinary to break a heart! Many years ago, on a hill called Mount Calvary, a heart that loved beyond the ordinary, was broken!
Today, I would like us to consider, this heart that was broken because of love! The heart I am presenting for our consideration is the heart of God!
I want to bring before us a scene from the Garden of Gethsemane, where, because of a love that we can never understand, something took place in the Godhead, for the first and only time in all eternity, that literally, broke the heart of God!
“And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘ “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” ‘ Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” ‘ ” (Luke 22:41-44, emphasis provided). This condition is caused hematidrosis.
It began with the Incarnation, God, the Son, who was equal with the Father, volunteered, in the Counsel of Peace, to clothe His divinity with our humanity, and come down to earth and live among us, like one of us, “yet without sin,” so that He could take His glorified humanity back to heaven, and intercede before the Father on our behalf!
But it was at a very great cost that He took a glorified humanity back to heaven. When He, who knew no sin, became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), and the Father had to turn His face away from the Son, this never before, nor after, situation within the Godhead, broke the heart of the Son and caused His death!
He did not die from a loss of blood. The piercing of His side by the Roman soldier came after He was already dead. Death by crucifixion could take several days. Because the Jews were in a hurry to remove the bodies from the cross before the dawning of the Sabbath, they asked permission of Pilate to have their legs broken.
Therefore, the Roman soldiers, in order to be sure that the malefactors were dead, began to break their legs and were surprised to find that Christ was already dead. They did not break His legs, in fulfillment of Scripture (Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:20). Instead, they pierced His side. This had already been prophecied (Zechariah 12:10).
“Oh, what a Savior is mine, In [H]im God’s mercies combine; His love can never decline, and [H]e loves me” (Norman J. Clayton)!
Love has everything to do with it! Yes, my friends, He had a heart, and allowed it to be broken, so that you and I, and whoever will, can be saved, all because of love!