The Sticker Shock of Lent
31He then began to teach them that the Son
of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and
teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise
again. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter
took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33But when Jesus turned and looked at his
disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You
do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Two years ago the movie, The Passion of the Christ
was a regular part of many conversations.
So many were asking, Have you seen it? So what did you think of it?
Critics were saying it was too violent, too graphic. The scourging and crucifixion scenes were
too long and just too gory. It was seen
to be inappropriate for children and even for many adults. To many, it was very offensive. It was just too much!
Today
the fictional movie The Davinci Code makes Jesus far too human! In it, Jesus takes a wife, and even has
children while the miracles He performed are explained away. I’ve not seen the movie or read a review … I
don’t even know how they deal with the suffering and crucifixion of our Lord,
but I already think I’m not going to be impressed. It is fiction, after all.
Why
is it that there is a tendency to make Jesus more human and less Divine? And why is it that there is a tendency to
whitewash the awful price He paid for our sins, that seemingly “over the top”
performance shown in the Passion of the Christ? I believe the explanation is all too simple. It’s because we feel our sins aren’t all
that bad. Because we think ourselves
better than we truly are, we are shocked to come face to face with what He
needed to suffer for us.
The
Son of Man must suffer many things,
He told His disciples. He knew what lay
ahead. He spoke plainly about it. He didn’t want His disciples to be surprised
by all that He would suffer. But even
to speak of it was too shocking.
Peter
was the one … it was always Peter who seemed to speak him mind … Never,
Lord! He seemed to say. As if Peter had the power to stop what God
had planned from the foundation of the world.
It was all culminating at the cross.
Though
Peter may object and even try here to dissuade Jesus verbally, and then in the
garden of Gethsemane by striking with his sword, he could not stop Jesus from
fulfilling God’s plan for the salvation of the world. Jesus would fulfill His mission … including the awful price paid
on the cross.
The
price was high, too high for any mere mortal to pay. To bear the sins of the world would take a God … and that is
exactly who came. Jesus Christ, true
God, yet true man, carried our sin in His body. He bore the awful, horrible, nasty, ugly, disgusting, hideous,
ghastly punishment of God’s anger over our sin.
Yes,
our sin is that horrible. It’s not just
a tiny speck on an otherwise white garment.
The blackness cannot be overlooked.
The stain will not brush off.
It’s embarrassment cannot be hidden no matter how we try to make it look
better in our own minds. It doesn’t
escape God’s notice any more than an ugly dress at the Oscars is missed by Joan
and Melissa Rivers. No less of a price
than the death of Jesus would have sufficed.
Whenever
we are tempted to think that our sins are not so bad or that they are little in
comparison to others … just look to the cross.
There we see what was needed to pay for our sins. There we see the shocking price of our sin.
When
Jesus proclaimed “It is finished,” He declared to the world the price for sin
has been paid, God’s justice satisfied, His love for us so publicly shown.
Because
we know Him, and love Him and trust Him as our Savior, we have the forgiveness
of our sins. God does not hold our sins
against us when we confess them and seek His forgiveness. He’s already paid the horrible price for our
sin… He will forgive.
The
story is told of two boys who grew up as best friends throughout their
lives. After High School, they both
went off to college. One of them
studied law and became an attorney then eventually a judge. The other boy went off the college and spent
most of his time enjoying the college life.
He eventually had to drop out of college and went from job to job,
always in and out of trouble.
The
boys lost contact with one another until many years later, when they met in a
courtroom. One was the judge, and the
other man the one accused on trial. It
was a case heard by the judge, held without a jury. If the accused was found to be guilty, the maximum punishment
allowed by law would be a fine of $2,000.
The judge heard the case and ruled his friend guilty. He pronounced the maximum sentence. Then, he took off his judicial robes, went
straight to the clerk of the court, and wrote a personal check for $2,000.
God himself is the holy judge who
has found all of us guilty and pronounced the maximum verdict of eternal death
… an eternity separated from His love.
He then took the total punishment upon Himself in the crucifixion on
Calvary, suffering separation from His Father.
Now, we go free at His expense.
God
is punished. We go free. That’s the shocking truth about the
Passion (the faithful love) of the Christ.