2014 Lenten Devotional

March 25, 2014

By Ron Hutchison

I have heard the expression that “Jesus died for my sins” a great deal in my life and it has always sounded a little off to me. Most of the time it was joined by the idea that humankind is so lacking in good qualities that we could not reconcile ourselves and it is just by Jesus’s act that we are redeemed with God. I have to say that I have had some problems with the saying and the theology I have heard called “Worm Theology.”  I am aware that Paul in his many letters makes a point that Jesus was very important in the attempts to reconcile humankind with GOD. He really stressed the importance of doing GOD’s will in a world that pulls us away from the will of GOD. I would say that Paul even communicated that nothing humankind could do could work without Jesus. Thus Jesus died because we are so flawed. Paul leaves the feeling that we are unworthy and incompetent so Jesus had to die and that fixed it. But I think there is more than just Jesus’s blood and my sin here.

My problem with this is that the power and potential Jesus said WE have is almost ignored. Jesus did not refer to us as wretches. He did not say we were incapable of receiving GOD’s LOVE. In fact Jesus said we have GOD’s LOVE and nothing can separate us from that LOVE. It seemed to me that Jesus was constantly teaching us how to actualize that LOVE. I know on occasion Jesus told people what not to do, but more often he tells us what we can do to know GOD’s LOVE. Jesus , I feel, was constantly trying to empower us to act as LOVE-creators, like GOD created us. He constantly talked about LOVE, Love, and more love. He told us that GOD LOVES all of us and if we want to please GOD we are to LOVE or love ALL of us, too. Jesus talked about the power in humility, forgiveness, empathy, kindness and courage (did I say FORGIVENESS?) He pushes us to do the right thing in spite of the consequences and he seems confident that we could overcome our flaws to do this.

Jesus is my savior and he is alive with me today teaching me how to overcome my flaws to become the creator GOD created me to be. He keeps telling us how to “challenge the darkness” in the world as well as in ourselves. He died, but long before that he modeled how to be one with and in GOD while we live. He knew that what he was teaching was something people in power feared and it would lead to the death of his body, but he insisted on doing the “right” thing. He also knows GOD better than any man and knew he would live as would the ideal of doing what GOD wills. His death models for me how to live.

I think Jesus thought and believed we were and are capable of doing the right thing as he so skillfully taught us through word and deed. I also believe that when he said in that first communion “Do this in remembrance of me” he was not talking about remembering we are sinners or that he suffered for us, but that we are powerful beings created in LOVE and capable of creating that LOVE by bringing GOD’s Kingdom to earth. “On earth as it is in Heaven.”  Jesus wants us to remember what to do and that we can do those things he taught when we remember him.

I have to admit that the reason I say I am a practicing Christian is that I have so far to go to meet Christ’s standards and I need a lot more practice. During the time of Lent we prepare to set ourselves right with GOD as Jesus taught us. For me it is not a time for counting my failures and doing penance; it is a time for me to count what I have done to be true to calling myself ”a Christian” and work to strengthen myself to give just a bit more of myself to GOD’s will. What I need to do:  LOVE more, study more, practice random kindness more, and forgive a lot more. For me Jesus LIVED to teach me how to be united with GOD and he lives in me whenever I share those behaviors HE taught were important to GOD. He LIVES so I can know how to overcome my sins.