Jesus is a Taker!

That phrase just flies in the face of everything that we have always learned in Sunday School, doesn't it? We know that Jesus is all about giving, loving, caring, sharing and all that other warm mushy junk. But in the middle of all that, we too often lose sight of some of the really important aspects of the work of Jesus in our lives. We seldom consider the hard parts of the Christian faith, or the difficult claims and actions of Jesus.

The church has done a very good job of making Jesus pretty harmless through these last two millenia. He makes no significant claims on our lives, our time, or our money. He has very low expectations and a lot of grace and forgiveness. In fact, Jesus loves us so much that we can do almost nothing that is wrong. Sin has become an out-moded, out of touch doctrine that is inconvenient at best. Or at least, so goes the popular notions of Jesus in the church.

We keep running back to Jesus the lover of my soul, the friend of sinners, because that is a lot more comfortable than Jesus the Judge. We prefer the Jesus of Easter morning than the Jesus of Good Friday. Good Friday Jesus is filled with sin. He was a bloody, sinful mess. In fact, on Friday, at his crucifixion, Jesus was so full of sin that his Father could not even look at him. And most of us find that Jesus hard to look at too. It could be that this is the most important Jesus to see, however. You see, it is when Jesus is at his worst, that he has about our best.

In the crucifixion he takes our sin. All the nasty, secret, dirty, ugly sins that you and I have ever committed are taken away by Jesus on the cross. His sacrifice allows us to be made whole. The ugly Jesus is a great sight for us.

In the crucifixion Jesus takes our sickness. The prophet of the Old Testament tells us that by the stripes, the scourging, of the Messiah we can be healed. How appropriate then, that Jesus' body was beaten and broken so that ours' could be made whole. Our healing and restoration is taken by Jesus.

In the crucifixion Jesus takes our sorrows and sadness. When we know that our guilt has been taken away, we have cause for celebration. There can be no sorrow, no sadness, among those who are redeemed. The forgiven are by definition joyous.

The crucifixion is a terrible, ugly event. But it is through the bloody sacrifice of Jesus that so much of what is bad in my life is taken away.

Yes, Jesus is a taker. And I, for one, am glad about that!