Today is Good Friday, a title that seems ironic, yet for those who have believed indeed know that it is good. I went to my first Christian Seder last night. I was told how somber it would be, how bitter everything would taste. I anticipated an evening of realizing the weight of my sin and wrestling with that all night. I am so glad that my expectations were wrong.
As Rick read in Hebrew and English, there were moments of seeing the great sacrifice made on my behalf by the innocent Lamb of God. There were moments of tasting such bitterness, symbolizing the consequential wrath for my sin that Jesus, the sinless Savior ate instead. There were also moments of realizing how unworthy I was to eat the matzo and drink the wine (grape juice) His body broken and poured out for me. There were all of these moments.
But, each of those moments were cut with the sweetness of what had been freely given, no one took His life, but He willingly laid it down so that sinners might be reconciled to God. At one point eating the powerful horseradish I felt the sting in my nose but then the sweetness of the apple mixture, the sweetness of Atonement. I will never have to feel the full the sting of death, the eternal separation from God, because Jesus had mercy and Atoned for me with His life and God accepted that Atonement as Dayeinu, enough. Now, by that payment and my acceptance of that Atonement, I, though I did nothing to earn it, though I don't always feel it, am made righteous and at the same time am being made righteous!
My friends, that is good news! Though, today, Good Friday, marks a colossal misjudgement in human history, it marks the greatest story of redemption ever told. Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, innocent of all sin, was tried and unjustly convicted of things not one could prove. He was beaten, mocked, scourged, and nailed to a tree, bearing the weight of all our sin. Despised and rejected. Those He came to save, the very ones who hung Him there to die, watched on waiting for Him to save Himself. Instead, with the very few breaths He had left He asked for their forgiveness from the Father, experienced being forsaken by God, His Father, and committed Himself into His Father's hands breathing His last.
But dear friends spoiler alert: THAT'S NOT THE END for if it were, it would be just another sad story of some innocent guy unjustly killed.
They took Him off the cross, wrapped Him and laid Him in the tomb. The Jews didn't declare someone truly dead until after a certain time had passed. 2 days passed, the declaration was made that Jesus was for sure dead. But, on the third day they went to visit His tomb and He was not there! Christ, God Incarnate, had indeed risen from the dead and IS alive. Death seemed to have conquered but Life, Light, Jesus won. And by that victory, because of the defeat of sin by one man, all those who accept Him as Savior are also declared righteous, made right, and made victorious in Him.
So now, we are freed up to be Jesus to the world. We no longer have to worry about the sacrifices we have to make to be right with God, for there are none. The work is completed. Our sacrifice now, is to willingly, like Jesus, give our time, energy, resources, and efforts into furthering The Truth to those that do not know.
Friends, that is grace at it's finest. And that is why I rejoice in living this life under grace!
No comments:
Post a Comment