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Cause and Effect
My children are learning cause and effect. They don’t realize their actions cause problems. Similarly, we often downplay our sins, distancing ourselves from their severity. It is by recognizing our sins that we see the depth of God’s grace.
Isaiah 53:5, Luke 7:36-50
Our verse for today is Isaiah 53, verse five.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)
My wife and I have been blessed with two children. We have a two year old boy and a one year old girl, and it’s fun, fun to watch them go through the different stages of life. Right now, they’re both in the same stage. They are figuring out cause and effect, figured out that their actions have an effect. Here are some examples of what I mean. My son will have his favorite toy truck upstairs, and he’ll take it and he’ll throw it downstairs and suddenly he’s upset. Now his toy truck, his favorite toy truck, is in the basement and it’s not upstairs. He doesn’t understand that he is the reason that his toy truck is in the basement. He is the problem.
Or my daughter will be having dinner time, and she’ll have her plate filled with delicious food fastened down to the table with a suction cup plate that baby’s use, and she will pull and pry until she tears it up, throws her food everywhere, and she begins to cry because now she has no dinner, nothing to eat. It’s all on the floor. She doesn’t realize that she is the one who is causing her problems.
When it comes to the passion story, which is summarized here in Isaiah 53 verse five, we see, we like to distance ourselves from that. The scene of Jesus died on a cross is a brutal scene. It’s a powerful scene and it makes us uncomfortable because of our sin. But we try to downplay our sin. We have things like our favorite sin or our pet sin. The white lies. The little things that don’t matter. Maybe when it comes to confessing our faith in church, it’s kind of just an exercise that we do. We are confessing with our mouths, but our hearts aren’t into it. We’re just doing it because that’s what everyone else is doing. We’re not grasping our sin.
I think that we try to find comfort in that, in distancing ourselves from that sin. But we’re doing the opposite. The more that we recognize and understand the severity of our sins, the more we recognize and see the profound nature of God’s grace of his love for us. Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about. Jesus was having a meal with a man named Simon. Simon, welcomed Jesus into his house, but he didn’t really go above and beyond. Didn’t wash Jesus feet, or offer him any sort of special treatment because he saw Jesus as an equal. He didn’t see his profound need for a Savior. But then the woman comes in and what does she do? She wets his feet with her tears. She dries it with her hair because she understands. She understands her profound sin, and she understands her profound need for a Savior. And she’s showing her appreciation.
I think sometimes we think of those tears that she is shedding on his feet as tears of sorrow. But they’re not tears of sorrow. They’re tears of joy because she realizes what Jesus is doing. Jesus is there for her. Jesus is there to lay down his life for all of those sins that she has committed. It’s true of us as well. Jesus laid down his life for all of our sins. They’re all taken away. So we need not try to hide away in our sin or downplay our sin, but lay them at Jesus feet with the beautiful confidence that those sins are entirely forgiven. Amen.
