This holy
week, when all the world stops to reflect on the life, death, and resurrection
of our Savior—when even secular atheists cannot muster the strength to forget
what this season means to the rest of us—I am reminded that the central meaning
of Christ’s resurrection is actually defined through the Christmas we celebrated
just a few short months ago.
The Christmas
holiday season, for all of its excess and materialism, still teaches us what it
means to be good givers. If it’s truly
the “hap-happiest time of the year,” it’s only because, for once, we spend an
entire month scheming how to show love to others. We set aside money that should have paid for necessities,
and somehow we squeeze pennies out of worn out dollar bills, just to share with
those we love.
To give well is to risk well.
We hope our earnest effort will not find itself left untouched at the
end of the day, tags intact while other favorite gifts steal the show. Children shop carefully and linger long at
the Dollar Tree, squeezing their hard-earned quarters and shyly wondering whether
Mom will like their choice of nail polish, or if Dad will try out his new hanky
on Christmas Day.
Sometimes we
get nervous when it’s time to present the gifts we’ve worked so hard to prepare. Something inside of us can’t bear the disappointment
of seeing our labor of love get set aside carelessly, as the recipient gladly
moves on to something more interesting. We
just want our gift to be accepted—not purchased from us, not discarded, not
ignored. Just received gladly.
And that’s how Christmas teaches
us the story of the resurrection.
There was a Giver Who loved the world. He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
That Son “came
unto His own, and His own received Him not.”
They hunted Him down in a garden one late night, where he prayed in agony. They dragged Him into a mock court, where
liars were coerced to witness against Him. He was blindfolded while Roman soldiers
slapped him and challenged Him to identify them. And
then he was scourged—beaten with whips that tore His body with hidden pieces of
glass, leaving His “visage so marred, more than any man.” The next
morning, they crucified Him.
“But He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities,” Isaiah
reminds us. “The chastisement of our
peace was upon Him: and with His stripes we are healed.”
The tomb was
guarded in a round-the-clock vigil by Roman soldiers, thanks to the urging of
the priests: “Command therefore that the
sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night
and steal Him away.” Pilate’s orders were
clear: Seal and guard the tomb “as sure
as ye can.” Despite every measure taken
by a competent military that had managed to achieve world conquest by 27 B.C.,
they failed miserably on that third day. The death-machine of the Roman army
could not sustain its power in the presence of the One with nail prints. For Christians around the world—in free lands
as well as in persecuted countries—that resurrection is celebrated every single
Sunday of the year, not just at Easter.
Forgiven sinners simply cannot stop celebrating their liberation from
sin and guilt. It is the singlular reason we have hope. Paul said that without that resurrection, we
are “of all men most miserable.”
And our salvation through that
Resurrected One is a gift.
The price of
this gift of salvation is beyond our imagination. For all of his eloquence, penning over half
of the New Testament, the Apostle Paul simple calls it God’s “unspeakable gift.” There
are no words.
Paul later reminds us that this gift of salvation cannot be enhanced with human effort. “It is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.” A gift that has been paid for by the recipient is no longer a gift. At best, it is a Dutch treat. At worst, it is an insult. Salvation can be obtained only as a gift. There are no other options.
Salvation is a gift not to be
tweaked, not to be
bought with the dull pennies and dimes of
our pitiful human effort. Those who
would add to the finished work of Christ, “being ignorant of God’s
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not
submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.”
Only God is
qualified to pay for our salvation. We
undermine and destroy this gift when we offer to pay for it with the
pocket-change and pebbles of our “good works.”
Jesus said, “There is none good, but One. That is God.”
If being a church member, or getting baptized, or donating my worldly
goods could wash my sins away, salvation would no longer be a gift obtained
only through the work of Christ on the cross.
Pennies and dimes. Pebbles and pocket change.
Salvation is
a gift not to be ignored as we greedily hunger for the temporal and ignore the
spiritual. “For today is the day of
salvation,” warns Paul. We don’t have a guarantee of tomorrow. The author of Hebrews notes, “It is appointed
unto men once to die, and after this, the judgment.”
The
Christmas season may have taught us what it means to be a good giver, but Easter
is the story of being a good receiver. “But
as many as received Him, to them gave
He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” (John 1:12).
Have you
received God’s “unspeakable gift”? Have
you received forgiveness from the perfect Lamb of God, “Which taketh away the
sin of the world?” Have you set aside
your own righteousness and asked Jesus to wash you and hide you in His
righteousness instead?
“But
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13).
Because salvation
is not for givers. It is only for receivers.
