3-25-13<\/p>\n
\u201cLife is cheap\u201d is a saying that gets bandied about, usually referring to the horrors of war or the cruelties of peace; that is, social injustice. The term has increasing, not diminishing, application \u2013 widespread abortion; the terrible euphemism of \u201cmercy killings\u201d of the elderly; child and spousal abuse; human trafficking. \u201cLife is cheaper\u201d should be the slogan of our time.<\/p>\n
My wife, in her last months, saw the early effects of the Affordable Care Act, and concluded that the new law, in its name, manifested neither. Already, the government is mandating that fewer conditions be addressed with less frequency, and at lower rates of compensation. \u201cThere won\u2019t be \u2018Death Panels,\u2019\u201d she would say, \u201cat least they won\u2019t call them that.\u201d Life is cheaper and cheaper.<\/p>\n
Perhaps in a culture that increasingly is \u201cthrow-away\u201d it is harder to appreciate the sacrifice that believers commemorate this week. I wonder how many non-believers \u2013 even in the midst of a nominally Christian society \u2013 ask, \u201cJesus died. But we all have to die.\u201d Or, \u201cTortured and crucified. But so were other people, criminals on each side of Him, and multiple thousands through the Roman empire.\u201d Big deal? Life is cheap, right?<\/p>\n
If you ever are tempted to think these things, you simply must remember the facts.<\/p>\n
Jesus was perfect, sinless, did not deserve His earthly fate. Surely one\u2019s sense of justice must rebel.<\/p>\n
Jesus\u2019 suffering and death had been foretold by many prophets, centuries previous, down to the most minute details. This was more than \u201ca\u201d death.<\/p>\n
God Himself foretold the efficacy of Jesus\u2019 sacrificial death by first establishing a plan of blood sacrifices, vows of repentance, and atonements for the sins we inevitably commit.<\/p>\n
When humankind could be convinced that it was unable to approach God because our natures are inadequate to obey commandments and fulfill such cleansing rituals, the Father fully instituted the plan that had been prophesied.<\/p>\n
\u201cLife is cheap\u201d? God did not think so; He does not think so. He could have exploded galaxies to show His power. He could have sacrificed, say, all the sheep on the planet in one moment, to take the ritual the Nth degree. Or any spectacular, supernatural display. And show His children the fully realized plan of salvation. But it was time for the Plan, and there was, or is, no Plan B. Even while we were yet sinners, He took the form of a human being. That aspect of His Being would become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.<\/p>\n
Life is cheap? No, life is precious.<\/p>\n
Two thousand years later, there still is no Plan B. No other sacrifice, not our own works, no other savior. No more merciful plan\u2026 for us. God is Holy, and we cannot, in justice, approach Him. However, by just believing that Jesus is the Son of God, and confessing it, we in effect accept the blood shed on the cross\u2019s altar. As with the sacrificial lambs of earlier times, His blood cleanses us \u2013 NOW we understand it all! As the blood on the door frames in Egyptian bondage made the Angel of Death pass over, we are free from eternal death \u2013 NOW we understand it all! As Abraham was asked by God to show himself willing to accede to the crazy request to sacrifice his son; although his hand was held back \u2013 NOW we understand it all!<\/p>\n
We fast-forward 2000 years. In some families, babies are aborted; in some neighborhoods, children are abused; in some towns, little boys and girls are abandoned. Is life cheap? But in some families, miscarriages are grieved; in some neighborhoods, children happily are adopted; in some towns, boys and girls are rescued. Is life precious? For many people, yes. For God, always.<\/p>\n
When God chose the Plan of Salvation, He was telling humankind that He was sending the most tender message He could imagine \u2013 the importance, the grief, the identification \u2013 that God could share with His children. He understands. And now we, too, understand it all.<\/p>\n
Do you know what it\u2019s like to lose a child? <\/p>\n
God does.<\/p>\n
+ + +<\/p>\n
The amazing J J Heller has written a song with the line \u201cSometimes I don\u2019t know what You\u2019re doing, But I know who You are.\u201d A song about life, and loss, and romance, and love, and hope; a seemingly secular setting, but a very spiritual message. The same thing, precisely, can be said about Good Friday upcoming. Be blessed.<\/p>\n