We will always think of the cross and be in utter dismay. Very little stories make so little, and so much sense all at the same time.

It’s like “Wow! But Huh???”

Perfect God loved imperfect us so much that His premium son will be offered in exchange for very sinful children.

I’ve never really celebrated lent, as far as I was aware, it was a catholic practice and I’m Pentecostal, however a few years ago, I stumbled on a lent book which completely altered how I saw the days leading to Easter and even beyond. A sudden consciousness came with that book, and while I still don’t do the ash cross and some other practices over lent, I always make my sacrifice over the 40 days leading to Easter. 

For a long time, it was either social media or food, but I had to get honest with myself, none of this mirrored the sacrifice of the cross, I was staying off social media without reason and going weeks on barely a full meal a day, all of my own volition. It didn’t seem sacrifice enough, so I dug deep! 

Nelson and I had a vacation coming up, it suddenly occurred to me, for this year, funny as it sounds, my sacrifice will be pictures.

It’s going to sound really strange to most people, but that’s how uniquely God saves us all from our “sin”, the things that threaten to sit enthroned in our lives look very different in different seasons of life. What matters is that we recognise it and curb it, quickly.

As a picture queen that I am, nothing else felt more equally sacrificial than refusing to take or post pictures as I would this season and it’s taught me more about sacrifice than the years where it’s been social media or food fasts.

Lent sacrifice isn’t about mirroring Jesus sacrifice, we just would never come close, but it’s about stepping into His suffering by creating a semblance to the denial and abandonment of the Father to Jesus, all for a greater cause!

And so my meditations this lent leading to Easter takes on a whole new meaning for which I want you to also consider;

1. It really didn’t have to be Jesus – I think of the benefits of fasting off social media and food some years, it’s helpful but not to the degree of a threatening idol. The only criteria for the sacrifice was “sinless”, and only one man met that criteria, even though God had an option to make many other options. Part of the dilemma of the cross is that the father restricted His option of sacrifice to only His premium possession for reasons we will keep unravelling daily. I think God too vast and big to have limiting options, so that we had one option to the problem of sin, is evidence of His restriction which stemmed from a deeply rooted love.
2. It didn’t have to be you – you might remember from the bible that we are not the first generation of men post creation. A vast number of men died before the cross manifested. The special thing about Easter is that it should inspire such a personal reflection of why God chose you. When you think through history, you realise we aren’t that special, everything those who went before us were guilty of, we stand just as guilty, but now, thanks to the cross, “who shall now bring a charge against Gods elect!”. There’s something deeply humbling in reflecting on the sacrifice of the cross to you and for you.
3. Death was the catch, why the cross? – The Old Testament gives us a glimpse of what was acceptable to satisfy the justice system of God. The only way to atone for sin was by spilling the blood of the one who had sinned. I think some days that spilling Jesus blood should’ve been sufficient, a silent death in the night surely should sufficed. Why the agony of the cross?

The only answer I have is prophecy. The cross was the height of dehumanisation and prophecy had it that the sacrifice will be stripped to the barest level the least of us would relate to. It’s why Jesus is now a high priest that cannot be untouched with the feelings of our own infirmities. Because of the reality of the cross, He can relate to every inhuman-ness of humanity.

Easter really brings us to recount the greatest win of our lives, one we didn’t even have to wear an armour or put up a fight for.

It will always deeply unsettle me that God limited Himself to save us.

May we never forgot how undeserving we were to be exchanged for a premium son.