The Best Love Story of All!
Meditation for the week of February 13, 2010
Job 4:7 "Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off?
Who ever perished being innocent? The Lord did! Fortunately He didn’t perish eternally. He was raised from the dead; and now those who of us who deserved to perish eternally because of our sin, do not have to perish.
Was the Lord truly innocent? Pilate thought He was. He washed his hands in front of the crowd to declare his own innocence in executing an innocent man. But, of course, what he was doing was wrong whether he washed his hands or not. Pilate’s wife thought the Lord was innocent and warned him not to be a part of his execution. Judas, who betrayed the Lord, also thought he was innocent. He knew he was betraying innocent blood but apparently expected the Lord to use his “magical” powers to keep from being harmed. When that didn’t happen, he was remorseful; but he couldn’t undo what he had so foolishly done. Matthew 27 records all of these declarations of innocence. Yet the Lord was still crucified for being the Son of God. That was considered blasphemy by the Jews. But it isn’t blasphemy if it is true, and the resurrection of the Lord declares this to be true.
Most of us hate to see a miscarriage of justice. Today many people who have been found guilty of crimes committed years ago have been declared innocent through technological advances involving the testing of DNA. But while this is terrible, since many of these people have spent years in jail, these people were thought to be guilty. The Lord was thought to be innocent, and yet He was crucified. What a miscarriage of justice this was, particularly when religious leaders were the ones wanting Him to be crucified.
Religion without a relationship with Christ can be very cruel. It tends to be self-serving and hypocritical. Generally religious people tell others about their supposed sins without dealing with their own. The Jews proclaimed Jesus a sinner because He made Himself the Son of God while even Pilate knew that the only real sin was their own hypocrisy and envy (Matthew 27:18). It is easy to point out the sins of others while failing to deal with our own. The Lord tells us to deal with our own sins so we can see clearly to deal with the sins of others. Matthew 7:5 says, "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
The Lord had no sin. He was the One who perished being innocent so the guilty do not need to perish. We who are saved are not good (Romans 3:12), instead we are forgiven (Ephesians 4:32). The injustice of man has proven the goodness of God. The goodness of God is seen in his love for the guilty and in His willingness to sacrifice His innocent Son in whom was all His delight in order to spare the guilty that He loved. If there is a true love story for Valentine’s day, this would be it.
Bruce Collins