Read 1 Peter 2:21-25
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness…”
(v 24a)
Some Thoughts…
I almost missed this! How could I? In reading this passage on God’s call to suffer for the sake of righteousness, I coldly read over these words so academically. But I need to See the example of Jesus’ suffering as an exclamation point to Peter’s persuasive words to call believers to the meekness of living right in a wrong and often unjust world…
Jesus is our example – The One we mustfollow and pattern our lives after, but there is something else here – power and passion and healing. Jesus did not go through the pain of crucifixion just to give me warm fuzzies…No, He willingly took my sin…our sin…He identified with me on such a level that all the darkness in me was His burden, His problem, His weakness – He died with my sin, so I could die to my sinful self-centered lifestyle. He died in my sin so I could be cured of my sin-sickness…
His wounds become our medicine for healing from self-inflicted scars to scars left by an unjust and many times uncaring world – We are healed from all of it! It is no longer our burden to carry. When we identify with the cross of Christ, we die to self-preservation and seeking our own will and way…
I am alive in Christ! Every situation where I find myself is one in which Jesus is now very present, and I live in His righteousness so that the wrong can be overcome by Him in me…I’m no longer like a lost sheep wandering unprotected and exposed to the ravaging wolves…No, I have returned to the Shepherd (v 25). In the original language “returned” is in the passive form here…so I’ve been returned – I’ve been carried back into the arms of the Good Shepherd, the Overseer or Protector of my soul…my soul, not my flesh…my life is lived for another world…in this life I choose the example of the meek and mild Jesus who took on injustice in ways that look like defeat…so I will submit for the Lord’s sake (2:13)…I will live completely identified with Isaiah’s suffering servant; my Lord Jesus Christ.
How could I miss the cross of Christ?
A Prayer…
Father, keep that History changing moment ever before my eyes; that dark day that You cried out “It is finished”; that weekend of turmoil and suffering; those days of abandonment by all those who said they would die for You; those hopeless three days You lay in the tomb; and the glorious day with You arose of crushed sin and death once and for all…the Cross…the wonderful cross…that ends death and removes the sting of injustice…and find victory in a Risen Savior who defeated the worst in all of us so that we could be healed…don’t let me forget. Amen.