I came across an article recently that startled me. A woman wrote how she cannot accept the God of the Bible because He was a child abuser by allowing Jesus, His Son, to die a horrific death. In my 35 years of being an born-again evangelical, I never saw it that way but I can see why she would. I can say, "Jesus wasn't a child; He was 33 years old when He went through it" but that's being flippant.

 

Somebody then explained that it wasn't the Father who abused Jesus but His enemies. I can retort for the woman and say, "He could have stopped them like any parent would." So why didn't He? Because of you and me.

God loved you and me so much that He allowed His Son to die a horrific death for us (John 3:16) because God is a holy God and no one with a sub-atom of unholiness can enter His holy presence in heaven (Hebrews 12:14).

 

Jesus loved you and me so much that He chose to lay down His life willingly (John 10:18) so we can go to heaven. And that's the thing. Jesus was no helpless pawn who had no say like all child abuse victims are. He CHOSE to die for you and me in our place.

 

He CHOSE to die for us when He didn't have to. He could have just stayed in heaven but He loved us so much that He wanted us to be there with Him. He loved us while we were sinners as kadiri, yucky, and filthy as the worst murderers, terrorists, and rapists you can think of.

 

In the eyes of men and society, some of us can be "gooder" than others but in the eyes of God, we are all the same---sinners who deserve hell as Satan and his angels do (Romans 3:23). Remember, no sub-tom of unholiness can enter His holy presence but Jesus became the perfect sacrifice being holy Himself. When we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, we become born again and His holiness becomes our holiness. His holiness becomes our entry ticket to heaven. We didn't pay for the ticket but Jesus did by dying on the cross for us and being resurrected by the Father which showed the sacrifice was accepted. Our ticket was stamped by the Father.

 

Yes, the kind of death that Jesus underwent was horrifying. After 20 years, I still cannot bring myself to watch "The Passion of the Christ." Viewers all over were horrified and it was just a reenactment and dramatization. I am sure the real thing was more horrible. That's how ugly our sinful nature is. If we can see the abuse by His haters and still say no to Him and His free offer of salvation by faith and faith alone, aren't we being sobrang walang utang na loob? Someone gives us money to pay off our debt, and we are forever grateful. How much more Jesus'? Aren't we abusing His sacrifice by refusing and even denying it ever happened?

This holy week, more than just looking semana santa, let us accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. He who sacrificed Himself for us said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).