Opening Scripture: Excerpts from Colossians 2:12-15 (NIV)
having been buried with him in
baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the
working of God, who raised him from the dead. …God made you alive with Christ.
He forgave us all our sins, …triumphing over them by the cross.
This week we commemorate the final days of Jesus on earth
and we remember his death. But what is the significance or meaning of his
death? It might be beneficial to
consider that this morning.
Only Human
I think it is interesting this sentence: “He’s only
human.” Usually we say that when
somebody has made a mistake or has demonstrated their limitations, right? There is no question that humans are capable
of great and selfless acts. We see that
with the dedication of medical professionals during the coronavirus
crisis. Every day doctors, nurses,
technicians and other staff people are infected with the virus because they
chose to care for victims of the virus.
Yes, humans are capable of creative and magnificent artistic,
scientific and architectural achievements.
Michelangelo’s great painting of the Creation of Adam, One World Trade
Center in New York City, the creation of antibiotics, the discovery of DNA, the
Psalms, just to mention a few.
“He’s only human.” On the other hand there is
abundant evidence of the limitations, mistakes, and degradation humans are also
capable of: the holocaust, racism, environmental pollution, not to mention the
millions of sins committed worldwide every minute of every hour.
Is human nature good?
For most of my life I thought that human nature is basically
good and beautiful. But let’s face it.
Our species has an inherent tendency toward self-centeredness. Our species,
like all others, wants to survive. From
the first moment of birth the infant cries for attention. Babies crying can be seen as an instinctual
mechanism of survival. The survival
instinct is not bad in itself, in fact,
it is essential. And yet it seems to me that the natural tendencies toward self-centeredness
and survival - left unchecked - can lead to great wickedness and evil. For example, recently we are seeing huge
increases in fraud and various scams being perpetrated on the population who
feel vulnerable to the coronavirus. I
suppose you could say that even fraudsters are just trying to survive. The problem is, they are doing it by
victimizing others. So, these natural tendencies must be curbed. If you are a
parent you know that you must teach the growing child to love
others, to put off gratification for a greater long-term good.
These seem like almost self-evident truths. However, they point to the human need for redemption. To put it another way, we need to be saved
from our own sinful nature. That is why God created and sent Jesus among us more
than 2020 years ago. Humanity needed
someone to show us the way to get beyond our natural human tendencies. I think it is interesting that the early
followers of Jesus were called “The Way” before they were called Christians,
because they lived differently due to their encounters with the Lord. The fact that Jesus was the incarnation of God
changed them and by those changes and their faith they began showing
others The Way.
Are we only human?
Genesis 1:26 teaches that every human being possesses the
image of God. Ecclesiastes 3:11 declares that God has “set eternity in the
hearts of men.” In Luke 17:21, Jesus proclaims, “The kingdom of God is within
you.” The Bible teaches that every human being possesses an immaterial
soul-spirit, and it is this part of us that connects with God (Hebrews 4:12). It also means that we are NOT totally
controlled by any ego, selfishness, and darkness within us. You might say that we are bound for eternity
due to grace and faith, we have Jesus’ blood circulating within us.
By nature we are built to need God. And to be fully human we must fulfill that
need. We are not enough just
depending on our own genius, strength,
natural ability, and industriousness. We need more. We need grace. Therefore, we need God, the
giver of grace, and because we ARE human we need God come in human form, Jesus
Christ.
Although I was redeemed by Christ through my acceptance of
and surrender to him as my Lord and savior and by my pledge to follow him to
the best of my ability for the rest of my life, every day I must make the
decision to turn that key, to let in God’s grace and in so doing I can enter
his Kingdom. I can certainly turn off
the flow of his grace into me by my own sins and moral mistakes, therefore I
must continually open the door to Christ by studying the Bible, coming to
church and by loving and serving others.
The Blood of Jesus
Many Christians speak of the importance of the blood of
Jesus. The way I look at it, before
Jesus, human blood and the human heart that circulates it needed
a kind of transfusion. It needed to be
infused with Godblood. I suppose it can
be said that this is the reason Jesus shed his blood on the cross. If Jesus were to stay alive as a human being
he needed blood within him. But first he
had to die to his human self by shedding his blood. Only then could he be resurrected in a transformed
glorious Christ. We too need to die to self so that we can be transformed. Would it not be appropriate to say that we
needed a transfusion of grace through Jesus Christ – God on Earth?
The Decision
But before this transfusion can happen fully, we have
to make a conscious decision of our own free will, to open ourselves to
that grace. That is, we need to make a
decision by accepting Christ as our personal savior. Then we are reborn into
the new creation that Christ came on Earth to make. I think it is accurate to say that we have a
key to the Kingdom. We can open the gate
or the door into the Kingdom of God by inserting the key and turning it. I think this is what is meant when we say “I
got saved or she got saved.” It happens
at the moment we say yes to Jesus Christ and surrender our lives to him. That surrender amounts to a great moment of our
dying to self. It is at that moment that we have a special transfusion of that
Godblood into us.
Today is what many Christians call Palm Sunday. It was a moment when Jesus was recognized as
king. But it was also the beginning of
the end of Jesus’ human life on Earth. Soon
after the palms and adulation, that evil aspect of human nature reared its ugly
head and the people who were eaten up with their own egos and desire for power,
recognition and status, turned against him because they felt threatened by his
radical message of love in the face of power.
They were afraid that this new way that Jesus was teaching and showing
would upset the way they had been acting for centuries. Yet again we see what fear
can do to human beings.
Questions and Challenges
- What will you do this week to remind yourself of the importance of Jesus’ passion, death, and Resurrection?
- How can you mark the coming of our Lord into the world and into your life?
- What are the evidences of God’s grace (the Godblood circulating within you) in your life?
Prayer
Father, thank you for sending us your Son to show us The Way,
to redeem us from our sinful human nature.
Please continue to guide us in our understanding and awareness of your
place in our lives. We belong to you. You love us.
That’s who we are - we are loved by you.
Please send your comforting grace into the lives of the suffering
victims of the coronavirus and into the hearts and minds of the medical
professionals and loved ones who minister to them. Comfort the family of Larry Scott as they
grieve his loss.
Devotional for Sunday April 5, 2020
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