A very happy belated Easter to all from India! This festive intersection of a risen Savior and a chocolate-bearing bunny fell upon our debrief time, staying at a Catholic convent in Hyderabad, India. Holidays are always weird on the race, trying to find those old emotions that would make one day stand out from the rest during the regular course of the year has a different dynamic out here, and those familiar traditions can be hard to come by on the other side of the world. In trying to cultivate an appreciation of this Easter season, I have been spending some time going through the gospel accounts of Jesus’ last few days on the earth, when I was struck by a couple verses in Matthew. Taken from Jesus’ trial before Pilate and the crowd:
Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!”…when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing…he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answer, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
“His blood be on us.” That phrase has been circulating in my mind, with all its heavy connotations and the unique double-meaning it can carry in light of the finished work done on our behalf. His blood is on us in much the same guilt that this crowd was freely accepting. To recognize the purpose and significance of the cross, I must first fully recognize that it was for my sin, my disobedience, my rejection of God that He faced such a gruesome death. I have called out to send Jesus to the cross, and I believe the gospel message requires an acceptance of that responsibility.
“For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight”
“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities…”
“…upon him was the chastisement that brought us
peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”-Isaiah 53:5
“wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
-Psalm 51:7b
“His blood be on us.” Our guilt is not the end of the story. His blood is on us, and through that we have been washed to perfect innocence. He did not go to the cross as a mere victim of our rejection, but with divine purposes for our redemption. He bore the cross not simply because of our sin, but specifically for our sin, once and for all.
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”
Happy Easter.
