Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. Colossians 1:13

Before Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ” was ever screened, some critics denounced him in scathing terms as being anti-Semitic. It’s understandable why Jews would fear that anything so graphic would stir unstable, unthinking individuals to blame Jews today for the death of Christ. Frankly, the historical record decries the fact that Christians are Jews’ best friends. At the same time there is a growing wave of anti-Semitism in Europe today. In recent days synagogues have been bombed, Jewish children attacked, and graffiti with scurrilous messages emblazoned on walls reminiscent of what took place during the days when Nazis ruled in Germany.

The issue is not who killed Jesus, but why was He there in the first place? Most people in the world, though certainly not all of them, know Jesus died outside the walls of Jerusalem long ago. But why did He have to die? The answer to that question involves every man, every woman, and every child alive today.

Paul, writing to a group of Grecians, who lived in the debauched city of Corinth, gave us the short answer. He said, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Ah, you may be saying, he is saying that sin had something to do with it. No, not “something” but “everything.” So quickly the issue ceases to be an ethnic or political issue, but a religious one.

This introduces another question, “What is sin?” Isaiah, in a passage which is prophetic in nature, says that all we like sheep have gone astray and that God laid on Him the sinfulness of us all. Going clear back to the Garden, we observe that our first father Adam turned his back on God’s will and chose to go his own way. That’s when the attitude of rebellion first erupted which the Bible calls sin.

Paul said, “All have sinned!” and the word all is very inclusive. Saying the same thing another way, he said, “There is no one righteous; not even one” (Romans 3:10). After our first parents sinned, God taught humankind that every sin required some kind of restitution. Someone, someway had to pay for wrongdoing. God gave His people priests who made atonement for their wrongdoing. Sacrifices—doves, goats, and bullocks—were offered to God.

Then in His own time, God sent His son to be the ultimate sacrifice, to give His life for our sin and failure. Thus God accepted His death in place of our death. Are you beginning to get the picture? “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” is the record of John 3:16.

Rembrandt van Rijn, the great Dutch painter of the seventh century, once painted a portrayal of the crucifixion as he conceived it. It was graphic. Jesus was writhing in agony on the cross, and in the faces of those who stood at the foot of the cross Rembrandt depicted the emotions of their hearts. Yet one of the most significant things about his painting is that in the face of one of those standing at the brow of Golgotha’s hill, Rembrandt painted the image of his own face. It was his way of saying, “I was there, too! I helped put Him on that tree!”

A closing thought. What Jesus Christ did was to pay the price for your pardon, but a pardon is valid only when the person involved willingly accepts it. It’s up to you to acknowledge your sin took Him there, and you accept His forgiveness and cleansing. The Good News is that the price of our sin has been paid. That’s what the Passion of Jesus Christ is about.

Resource reading: 2 Corinthians 5.