Recently I heard an incomplete Gospel presentation. My goal is to explain why it was incomplete and to give you a picture to sit with. I will use some theological terms but will not give complete definitions of those terms because this is not meant to provide definitions. Painting a picture is art, and is by definition somewhat subjective. However, the impact can be powerful when properly given its appropriate influence in our hearts. Jesus painted word pictures and used object lesions repeatedly. Though my example will fall utterly short of His abilities, it comes from a real experience and I hope because of that, it can speak to you.
We often think of Jesus as meek and mild, a loving shepherd caring for a gentle and helpless lamb, and He was and is. We are those baby lambs and we are incredibly weak and helpless. I have raised sheep, and known many shepherds and sheep farmers. They will all agree that however cute a lamb is… its cuteness will not save its life. Its utter reliance on its mother cannot be understated. If the mother is poor in health or dies then that lamb becomes fully dependent on the shepherd to either be its caretaker or to get it a surrogate mother. Jesus does not just shepherd His baby lambs like in a sweet scene from a View-Master (look that reference up if you are under 40), or a Netflix special. Similarly to the movie “Star,” He not only has to be gentle with the lambs He also has to fight off the stray dogs that want a snack!
That picture is the background to the Gospel presentation that I heard… and it went like this… “Jesus died for us to show us how much He loved us!” Truer words have never been spoken! But left to themselves they utterly fall short and the message is so incomplete it becomes incorrect. It was a sacrificial love that drove Jesus to the cross where He died… However, the presentation that I quoted above did not mention the cross, the suffering, the pain, or what our role was in making Him approach that great scene of injustice and justice combined. Jesus did die because He loved us but the incomplete statement I heard painted the picture of Jesus as a white-robed damsel, throwing Himself off a cliff and sweetly explaining “I Loooooooooove Yoooooooou!” on the way down. He was willing to do anything to show how sweetly He cared for us…. like a love-struck damsel from the Middle Ages, like a Romeo who couldn’t live without His Juliette, like a Disney character that was incomplete without their crush. Is that what sent Jesus to the Cross to suffer death, a criminal’s death, an agonizing death, and all the while being the only innocent person to ever be executed???
NO!
Jesus was NO damsel in distress!
He walked into the teeth of death itself, He walked at whatever image of pure evil and death you can imagine like a dragon of immense size and temperature, a black void where no light escapes or where no life can exist… He walked into that! More like a shepherd cradling a newborn lamb with no strength while fighting off a pack of wolves barehanded. He had to go towards death that way because the reason for His death was our own ugly, bitter, infectious, and ravenous SIN. He had no flowers in His hair and did not sing a sweet song as he pranced off of a grassy knoll into sweet oblivion. He marched in agony into the horrors of separation from God so that we, His little lambs, would not have to. All He asks of us for His endurance of the most terrible suffering possible is this… to repent (turn away) from our unbelief and believe in His death, burial, and resurrection. That the power of those gives us new life, pays our sin debt that we owe God Himself, and that our hope of a future with Him forever is secure based on that faith. That is the trust of a baby lamb in its shepherd… who will not only give it all the gentleness it needs but will keep every killer wolf at bay.
Jesus’ love is not the pitiable and pansies-draped love of a damsel. He loves us like a Shepherd King who understands the very essence of Sacrifice… and so it is not out of pride that He expects us to trust, turn, and listen only to Him, as well as follow Him every day with absolute obedience.
This Christmas remember the star, the light, the gentleness, the cuteness of it all. But also when you hear the Christmas carol sung in the minor key, do not forget the darkness that the light is saving us from. Sit with these pictures I have tried to paint and if you are privileged enough to share the Gospel remember to share what Jesus saved you from and what His sacrifice means to you!
Pastor Will
