Passion & Reconciliation

This weekend we round the corner into one of my favorite times of the year as a born again Christian. This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the day that commemorates Jesus Christ’s “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem. (This account is preserved for us in Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19 and John 12.) It was during this next week in Christ’s life that He endured what Mel Gibson has attempted to portray on film—His Passion. No doubt you have seen the images from this film on the screen, in periodicals or on television clips. While I have my theological differences with Gibson, I must admit that the scenes I have watched have given me a fresh reminder of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. As gruesome as the film is, Gibson admitted in a televised interview that he pulled up short of portraying how gruesome it really was for Jesus. Isaiah the prophet gives us the reality portrait of the tortured Christ—“So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men” (Is. 52:14).

While the film leaves little doubt as to what Jesus Christ suffered, I want to spend my Winston-Salem Journal space today to focus on why Jesus Christ suffered. Specifically, I want to land on a very important theological term that explains it all. It is the term reconciliation. It’s a common word with deep meaning—it answers our question “Why?” The Apostle Paul sums it up beautifully in his letter to the believers at Corinth: “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2Cor. 5:18-19). Why did Jesus suffer and die? He did it to reconcile sinners to God.

If you as a born again believer meditate long and hard on this doctrine of reconciliation, I am confident that you will be gripped by its force. In fact, I believe it will impact you in no less than five ways:

1.It forces you to remember your past. The word reconciliation comes from a word family meaning to change or exchange, as in the status of a relationship. More specifically, it came to mean acknowledging a gulf and bridging it. If reconciliation had to take place between God and me, what was the nature of this gulf? Good question. Paul answers: “For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross….although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds” (Col. 1:19-21). You cannot even begin to imagine the width of this gulf—it was infinite. John Calvin writes, “No one knows the one-hundredth part of sin that clings to his soul.” Dr. Charles Ryrie further explains, “Our state of estrangement could not have been more serious, nor the need for a change, a reconciliation, more urgent.” All that Jesus Christ suffered was endured in order to bridge this gulf and make peace between holy God and sinful man (Eph. 2:1-9, Rom. 5:1). When you think of reconciliation, you must remember why you needed it—your past.

2.It helps you to worship your God. All other religions of the world have one common denominator—the belief that man can bridge this gulf by religious/good works. Biblical Christianity stands out from the crowd by emphasizing the fact that no man can earn reconciliation. It is an initiative on God’s part. We call it grace. And what God starts, He finishes. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Rom. 5:10-11). Just a glimpse at God’s initiative to reconcile you to Himself moves you to worship Him! St. Augustine marveled, “Even when He hated us He loved us!” We can sing Charles Wesley’s hymn with great joy—“My God is reconciled; His pard’ning voice I hear;//He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear.//With confidence I now draw nigh,//And, ‘Father, Abba Father’ cry.”

3.It compels you to follow your Lord. As you read through several of the key New Testament texts on reconciliation (e.g., Eph. 2:13, 16; Rom. 5:10; Col. 1:20-22), you will notice a common thread—the blood that Jesus Christ shed for those whom He reconciled to His Father. This great sacrifice is what kept Paul so committed to Christ—“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2Cor. 5:14-15). You show me a born again believer who has seen the initiative of the Father and the sacrifice of the Son in reconciliation…and I’ll show you a man/woman who needs no crisis, pleas, or guilt-trips to serve Christ unreservedly. They will be self-starters.

4.It moves you to anticipate your future. A little boy was offered the opportunity to select a dog for his birthday present. At the pet store, he was shown a number of puppies. From them he picked the one whose tail was wagging furiously. When he was asked why he selected that particular dog, the little boy said, “I wanted the one with the happy ending!” What is the happy ending of reconciliation? “He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach” (Col. 1:22). Reconciliation is not just about the past and the present. It’s also about an eternal future with the God who initiated it (Rev. 1:6).

5.It motivates you to share your faith. Missionary C. T. Studd once penned a short, piercing rhyme—“Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell;//I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” Believers who understand reconciliation understand that the gulf is wide…the bridge is up…the time is short…and they have been commissioned to be ambassadors of this reconciliation (2Cor. 5:18-21). Let us, with Paul, own the ambition that declares, “So, for my part, I am eager to preach the Gospel to you.” We have the message. The world has the need. Let’s go.

Dr. Jim Newcomer, Pastor
Twin City Baptist Church
Winston-Salem, NC
www.twincitybaptist.org