There’s this idea that “Jesus died for our sins”. As children, surrounded by adults who seemed to be making quite a mess of things, this was somehow conveyed to me as “We don’t have to try to be good, Jesus died and we’re now off the hook for our transgressions”. Yuck. No wonder many people walk away from religion and the church in this day and age. If we’re lucky, we discover later in life that God never left us and that we can, and must, distinguish the trueness and wholeness of God, the concept of God as the highest Good, from the people who use his name in vain.
But, first, let’s consider that the idea above might have been a translation error. Maybe it was intended to convey “Jesus died due to our sins”. In other words, Jesus died because humanity hasn’t grown much beyond it’s monkey heritage. We’re neurotic, easily contaminated with shitty ideas and we’re prone to throwing rocks and poop at each other. That’s a much more realistic reading of the text, don’t you think? He died not for, but because of our sinful nature.
I think the Bible was, intentionally or not, written so that even insane or evil people can just about read anything they want to read in it. Otherwise, no book would survive that long. The goal of both good and bad ideas is to survive. If you’re a sinful bugger who wants to read that you can be as awful as you like because someone died 2000 years ago and took all past and future sin with him? Go ahead, read whatever you want. The truth is in there, too, no matter how much you distort it. The most successful idea is one that is propagated over as many channels as possible. Evil cannot create new ideas, it can only distort them, and so with that fact in hand, the writers created a story that can be distorted while still being completely true.
Now, let’s go to the other end of the spectrum. From the evil sinful person to the pure child. Suppose you’re a sensitive, kind child who grows up in the madness that is humanity. What inevitably happens is that, at some point, you’re punished for being you. For being too much, or not enough. For being too focused or too distracted. For being too fast or too slow, for not marching to the tune of others. And what you may end up thinking and feeling very strongly, ingrained in the programming that was instilled in you, is this.
I’m doing it wrong. I’m doing something wrong. I’m at fault. I’m not okay. I’m different. I don’t understand the rules.
In biblical terms:
I’m a sinner.
And hey, you could very well be sinning in your adult life right now, and it’s useful to look at yourself and go “What sins did I commit?”. Because if you did it once, chances are you’ll do it again and life itself will inevitably punish you for it. So surely, investigate your life for sins you committed and are still committing.
But there’s a deeper thought here and it may very well be that it is indeed this: You are forgiven. Not because Jesus gave everyone a free pass. He certainly didn’t approve of sinners. But there is room for remorse, grief and repentance, especially for those of us who discovered that as children, we had to follow insane rules to survive. There was a reason the rules didn’t make sense to us. They didn’t make sense, period. Jesus didn’t die for the evil person’s sins, he didn’t die for he who laughs with glee when another person hurts themselves. Jesus shows you, in clear daylight, by dying a horrible death, what people can be like. That there are indeed dumb people who make up dumb rules because they don’t know any better. That there are people who will take any excuse to whitewash their misbehavior. There are those who would happily crucify a man who committed no crime, but just for speaking his mind. Through Jesus’ death, they’re exposed. And they happily expose themselves, by parroting distorted ideas.
The Bible wasn’t written to help people who can’t be helped. It was written for those who have a chance to return to God. For those who wish to do the right thing but strayed. In that sense, Jesus died for your sins. Through the story of his death, it’s exposed what kind of person you are. Yes, you will have to come to terms with your sins, surely you have them. That’s what the phrase firstly hints at. You have committed sins. But, here’s another thought: maybe you are forgiven depending on your reaction to Jesus’ death. If you recoiled at the story, or got confused and wondered why people sing happy songs about a crucifixion, perhaps redemption awaits you. Those who celebrate that they’re off the hook, I’m guessing not so much. They have a long way to go. But hey, join them in their celebrations anyway, because a man who took up the God-given task to expose the truth by making the ultimate sacrifice, he deserves your admiration and gratitude. What a brilliant work of art is the Bible, that it can survive any distortion because the act of distortion is what it was made to expose.
It is better to have loved (God) and lost (sight of Him) than never to have loved at all. For when you find love again, it will be more precious than it was before.