What Did Jesus Do?
Jesus Accepted (And Still Receives) the Consequences of OUR Sin
“He was wounded for OUR
transgressions;
He was crushed for OUR
iniquities…
And the LORD has laid on him the
iniquity of US ALL.”
Isaiah
53:5-6
I took some time over the weekend to re-watch The Passion of the Christ.
My wife asked me to mute the sound when the movie arrived at the scene
of Christ’s scourging at the hands of the Roman soldiers. There were eyes shut as well for those terrible
minutes depicting the fulfillment of the words of the prophet Isaiah captioned
above. Even our son, who has no trouble
watching river of blood being spilled in horror films, averted his eyes from,
well, the most horrible scene in all of history.
We shook our heads at the barbarity and sadism of the men who wielded
the fiendish tools of torture with such apparent pleasure in the awful
work. But I could not heap condemnation
on the legionnaires who were “just following orders.” No, instead I said to my wife, “It wasn’t those soldiers, but we, who apply
every one of those brutal stripes to Christ’s flesh.” Did you notice that I said “apply” rather than “applied”?
You see, it has been troubling me for some time now, and finally struck
me with stunning force as we watched that disturbing scene, that, even though
Christ’s Passion was nearly two-thousand years ago, and, even though the Lord
said of his work of redemption, “It is
finished” (John 19:30), there is a present reality of the Lord’s suffering
as a consequence of our sins. It is too
easy for me to think of the risen Jesus in glory now at the Father’s right
hand, and remove the terrible consequences of my sin to the far distant
past. If Christ’s suffering is over, and
the penalty for sin (Mine and yours.) has been paid (And it has!), then,
somehow, my sin, my sinning doesn’t seem so bad. I mean, even if I my transgressions hurt
somebody, or if they impact my own life negatively, at least He no longer has to suffer for it. If it (Christ’s
being wounded for my transgressions and crushed for my iniquities.) is finished, then the real consequences
of sin can almost be muted as simply as clicking a button on the remote; I can
fast forward past the horror.
But, and I have really been struggling to understand this (Not to
mention how to put it in writing), I am convinced that the sins I commit today add stripes to Christ’s back then.
I have to confess this, failing to see and feel the present reality of
the Lord’s suffering as the direct consequence of my sins, well it permits me to
sin, if not boldly, then (even worse) carelessly, casually. Don’t misunderstand me, I get it, I don’t have to suffer the penalty
for the sins of today (nor yesterday’s sins, nor tomorrow’s) because Christ as
already paid the penalty in full. But,
even though Jesus finished the work of redeeming me, the work goes on, He suffers still, every time I sin.
There is something to be said for the Crucifix of the Roman Catholic Church which depicts the suffering
Lord, over and above the empty Cross we Protestants favor. A Crucifix
is a present reminder of the ultimate, real, and present consequence of all sin—Christ’s
Passion—a horror unimaginably worse than you or I could bear.
Oh, I celebrated Resurrection Sunday with all my heart yesterday. Christ is
risen! Jesus is alive. He who promised
never to leave or forsake us is present. And if present, then still quite capable of
feeling the terrible pain as He
accepts the consequences of my sin. Therefore,
Lord, keep back your servant from
presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then not only shall I be blameless and
innocent of great transgression, but neither shall you anymore have to deal
with the consequences of my iniquity.
For, by dying and rising from the grave,
you have broken my heart and my spirit.
You have brought me into your presence, never to cast me away, and
restored to me the joy of your salvation! Amen.
Christ IS All!
Jim
Marion, NC
PS 37:4
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