"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2Corinthians 5:22
Easter is really all about us. Now, before you roll your eyes, let me expand on why I'm saying this.
The reason behind Easter is us. It clearly says it was for our sake, not for His sake. He didn't have to have a rescue plan. He could've given up all together on the notion of us and wipe us all out for good.
But He didn't.
You could argue and say that God being God, He had nothing to loose sending Jesus to our rescue. But is that really fair to say? What do we mortals understand of God become flesh in Jesus and living the life of a mortal? Not just living the life of a mortal, but being condemned and put to death by the mortals He came to save. And even that's not the worst of it...
The Bible says he became sin. Not some sins. Not the more appealing sins. He didn't just die for (what we would consider) our "BS" (bearable sin). He also died not just for one heinous act. Every heinous act. He bore all the filthiness the world has and will ever know.
Every dirty thought.
Every destructive display.
Every greedy and proud attitude.
Every injustice committed.
He not only became the sin of those of us who would one day come to know Him as our Saviour.
He bore the sins of those who may never repent as well. Those that have crossed the line by the hardness of their heart. The Hitler's, the Mason's, pedophiles, rapists, terrorists, etc.
Jesus bore the sin and became the sin of those we would consider more "hell deserving" (though we know we are hell bound without Him.)
To make this more personal, He bore the sin of my Daddy's killers: the one who ordered the hit on his life and the ones who actually pulled the trigger. I still remember when this truth sank in my heart years ago. Jesus' work on the cross just blew me to another level of "away".
When we just make Easter about celebrating Jesus Christ dying for all of us church goers and perhaps a few mild sinners, we're missing the bigger picture. Yes sin is sin, big or small. But I do believe there's levels of depravity and hardness of heart that conceives certain sins. They're heavy. They're another level of darkness. All rooted in hearts left unchecked and unrepentant. But it's where our hearts left unsurrendered and unmoved can venture to.
Jesus tasted that in flesh and blood. All of it. He bore it. He became it. He conquered it.
To think or say that God had nothing to loose would be short sided of us. He paid the ultimate price for all:
-those who would accept Him and
-those who would and will reject Him.
The bill has been paid for those who are eating at the feast and those who will never show up to the table. "...He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."2Peter 3:9
All this to say, we will never grasp the loss Jesus experienced in order to win us back. His defeat made our victory possible. God made a way to make things right again for all who would accept His gift of mercy and forgiveness.
I think it's safe to say that Easter was and is for our sake. Humanities sake. "He became sin who knew no sin so that in Him we can become the righteousness of God".
That's love. That's Jesus. Our righteousness. Humanities righteousness.
The ball is in our court now. The debt has been paid. The table is set. The feast is laid out before us.
