What does
Jesus do for us?
What does it
mean for us as he says in today’s gospel that he came to give his life a
ransom for many (Mark 10.45)?
There are
three main Christian doctrines – the Trinity, the Incarnation and the
Atonement. This morning the readings centre on this last doctrine, Atonement,
how God and humanity are made one by what Jesus does for us.
How do we
understand this making God one with us that Our Lord achieves?
More
importantly how do we not only understand the doctrine but see it taking effect
so that we know God not just only as our maker but as our saviour?
These are
questions that spill out of all three scriptures this morning.
The Isaiah
53 passage was chosen to illuminate the text I read from Mark 10.45 at the end
of today’s gospel. There Jesus makes a prediction of his coming Passion which
pours cold water on the arrogance of James and John who thought their Lord was
going to take worldly power and wanted part of his worldly glory. No, Our Lord
says, my kingdom will be built from suffering service. The Son of Man came
not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.
Isaiah
foresaw the lonely figure on Calvary who would
bear the immense burden of sin separating human beings from their maker and how
that sin bearing would cost the suffering servant his life like a lamb that
is led to the slaughter. The passage hints at the tomb of Jesus given by
the rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, verse 9, they made his grave with the
wicked and his tomb with the rich. It concludes with a prophecy of the
resurrection, verse 12. Let’s read it. Therefore I will allot him a portion
with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured
out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the
sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Jesus himself
gave no explanation of how his death and rising again made atonement other than
to point to this scripture. Only after his resurrection did his followers reflect
more fully upon what Jesus did and does for us as Saviour.
So we can
move on to the second reading by the anonymous author of the letter to the
Hebrews. Here in this letter is the best source of teaching in scripture on the
doctrine of the Atonement. This teaching centres on the priesthood of Christ by
which Jesus takes what he did on Calvary and
pleads it for all time in heaven. It’s this his pleading that we join to at the
Eucharist.
Today’s
small section of Hebrews is from chapter 5. We read: Every high priest
chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their
behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin.
Priests
have a ministry of representing mortals to the immortal God and the immortal
God to mortals. The passage goes on to outline how Christ was appointed high
priest by God but with full sympathy for humanity. He is the Son of God become
Son of Man. In this passage we see graphic evidence of Christ’s humanity. It’s
a powerful account actually of the passion of Our Lord that begins with his
tears in the Garden
of Gethsemane
Let’s
read this account in verse 7: In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up
prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able
to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
What does
Jesus do for us?
Jesus shows
us a God who expects nothing from us he’s not prepared to go through. But he
shows us much more. He shows us God’s love and holiness, our need of them both
and how we can attain to both.
Our Lord
brings us atonement. He makes a way for the God of love and holiness to be one
with us in our dignity and frailty.
In giving
himself he does so in costly love. He does so on account of the requirements of
God’s holiness. He does so because only by the Cross and its pleading for ever
in the heavenly sanctuary can women and men be won to glory.
When we
look at the Cross we see four things.
We see the love
of God fully displayed.
We see the holiness
of God in his hatred of sin. The Cross shows what sin feels like to God.
We see our
dignity because this act of atonement is given to rescue us for eternal
glory.
We see our
frailty. Where else do we see the terrible consequences of our sin?
The
doctrine of the Atonement is an awesome mystery. We will never fully understand
the doctrine but that won’t stop us seeing it take effect in our lives so that
we know God not just as our maker but as our saviour.
How does
it effect our lives?
The Cross
is once and for all but Jesus lives as eternal high priest to plead its
benefits. Inasmuch as we repent of our
sins and trust Jesus all that he has done for us comes into operation in our
lives bringing forgiveness, healing, deliverance and freedom in the Spirit.
As verse 9
of the Hebrews Chapter 4 passage states Jesus has become the source of
eternal salvation for all who obey him. What is salvation other than an
eternal relationship with God sealed on his side by love and ours by the
obedience of faith.
Yes all
that Jesus does for us comes to us as we obey. Faith isn’t a feeling
it’s obedience. It has its beginning in baptism, which is our great ‘yes’ to
God and ‘no’ to self. It has its end in the vision of God face to face with the
selfless adoration of all the saints.
The good
news of Christianity is very simple.
God made us
for friendship. Sin became a barrier to that friendship. God sent Jesus to lift
away that barrier making us friends of God.
Things get
between us and God so that we’re not at one. Sin, fear, sickness, bondage,
anxiety, death and the devil get in the way. Jesus brings atonement – at one
ment literally – because what he did in his coming, his suffering, death
and resurrection has established the means to overcome these evils - if we use
them. That means that the words we read today in Isaiah he has borne our
infirmities and carried our diseases come true when we trust his healing
power. When we read he bore the sins of many that can become true in our
experience when we seek his forgiveness and become one of the many who’re made
one with God through Jesus.
Atonement
isn’t just a doctrine it’s a way of life. It’s living one to one, heart to
heart with God.
This is
what Jesus does for us.
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