As we head into Easter, I want to encourage us to spend time preparing to celebrate the atoning death and victorious resurrection of Christ Jesus. I have found the lack of reflecting upon the events of Holy Week to be a vital element missing in the Nicaraguan evangelical culture in which I serve. As Catholics have typically celebrated Holy Week in visible and significant ways, evangelicals have (in my opinion) over compensated and virtually ignored every aspect of the week, the death and resurrection included. Personally, I find it extremely important for us to all pause through this week, and indeed every week, to really understand what Jesus did for us on that one particular week all those centuries ago. And what did He do that matters so much? He was judged in our place.
Let’s start with just one verse: Matthew 27:46:
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
We can get hung up here on why Jesus would ask this question. Let me offer two possibilities. First, Jesus was actually experiencing pain on the cross. Yes, Jesus was God in human form, but he could also experience pain and suffering. His crying out shows that he actually suffered on our behalf. Second, the question he asked is (in my opinion) as much for us as it was for God. Why did Jesus have to die? Allow me to explain in the form of a story (which I long ago borrowed from a source I can no longer remember).
Imagine you have come to the end of your life and you awake to find yourself being taken into a giant celestial courtroom. You’re seated at the defense table, while to one side of you is an impeccably dressed prosecutor. Over many days this prosecutor describes each and every one of your sins, leaving not the slightest misstep unmentioned. As the hours and days drag on you become ever more hopeless, realizing that you are indeed guilty of each and every sin you are accused of. After days of accusations, the prosecutor rests his case, and the judge raises his gavel to make his decision. He quickly and authoritatively declares you guilty. But then something strange happens. The judge steps down from his podium and walks towards you. He rather forcefully pushes you out of the way and declares “this person is guilty, but I will take their punishment.” He then turns to you, points towards heaven, and says “child, you are now free to enjoy eternity in my Father’s House.”
Why did Jesus have to die? Because only the judge can be judged for the sins of the world. Jesus is the Judge who is judged in our place, a phrase made famous by Swiss Theologian Karl Barth. The writer of 1 John puts it this way: My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:1-2
It is Jesus alone who can judge the world, and yet it is He who chooses to step in and take our punishment because of His love and grace. Thanks be to Christ, who loving chooses to be judged in our place.
