Bad Friday. Dark Saturday. Glorious Sunday!
Many years ago I was reading the beautifully written stories from the foot-washing through Resurrection Sunday in The Jesus Storybook Bible to my kids. As we reached the part about the crucifixion, Luke who was 4 at the time summed it up best. He looked at me with a concerned and indignant expression in his eyes, and said “That’s not fair!”
And he’s right. The crucifixion was horrifically, tragically unfair. And that is the point.
At our very core we know that this world is an unfair place. Any one of us could come up with many stories that highlight this very fact. People spend their whole lives bitter and frustrated about the terrible injustices and tragedies that mar their existence.
But you must not forget – Jesus took it! He took it all!
As we enter into Easter this weekend and you hear the story of Jesus taking his punishment, close your eyes and imagine with me:
The mocking of the crowd and the taunts of the rulers echo every cruel and cutting word throughout history from the snide and mocking in-crowd, or from a ruthless teacher, or from a harsh and unloving parent. Life isn’t fair, and God knows it. So He took every last shred of cruelty, spite, injustice, weakness and piled it on His Son.
Think about your own life. The quick judgmental thought to your friends decision, the backhanded comment to your spouse, the rude response to your child’s mistake. How about the purposefully ignoring of what God told you to do or even the lack of seeking His advice.
All of these deserve death, separation from God. But that is where the Worse Saturday and Glorious Sunday come into plan. When Jesus was crucified He took every mistake, every sin, every evil thought and paid the penalty for those. He died and went into the grave so we do not have to. Our sin was paid in full. It was paid in advance. He knew we would sin and turn away from Him but He did it anyway.
Relationship
It is all about relationship. Christ did it so that a relationship with God could be possible. He made a way for us sinners to be in connection with a Holy God. Let’s pause here for a moment. God loves each one of you so much. He made a way 2, 000 years ago, before you were even born, for us to be united with Him. And if He could do it all over again, He would choose the same thing!
No sin is too big to be unforgiveable. No wrong done to you can not be healed. Jesus’ blood covered it all. Read this sentence again. There is NOTHING that can ever separate you from Christ. Nothing!!
What happened to Jesus isn’t fair. But wow, it is amazing! Take a moment this weekend to be thankful that Christ took every sin from you and me and paid for it all. And because Christ paid the price for all, you can also forgive the damages done to you too. Because of Christ, we are truly free to forgive and be forgiven!
I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow-not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below-indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39
