While we were yet sinners: Meditations on Romans 5

St. Paul makes many points in his Letter to the Romans, and few have the impact that this one does:

But God commendeth his love toward us,

in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

When we think of those for whom we would give our lives, the list is usually pretty short.  Some might be willing to die for a spouse, or children—some perhaps even for a good friend.  Some might be willing to die to save the life of any imperiled child, or in coming to the aid of a persecuted or attacked person.  Some make a commitment that they are willing to die in the line of their duty, to protect the population at large, such as police, firemen, and military.  But even in these examples, dying for others isn’t something we want to do, but may be willing to do, if the need and opportunity arises.  As General Patton was often quoted as saying to his soldiers, ““The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other guy die for his.”

Compare that with how Jesus gives His life.  We were not His friends when He died for us, but rather, we were enemies of God.  We were completely absorbed in our own pride, avarice, and self idolatry, and much more in harmony with the devil.  Mankind, having fallen and deformed the divine image we were given, were condemned rightly under the weight of our evil desires and deeds.  Jesus does not come to die for His friends and family, or even for the citizens of heaven, but rather comes to die for enemy rebels of His beloved Father.  He lays down His life willingly, for the sake of us… the ones who wanted nothing more, than to kill Him.

And while this certainly should give us pause during Lent, to repent of our sinfulness in all its forms, to deny ourselves daily, and to take up our cross to follow Jesus, it has a still greater purpose.  As bad as you think you are, you cannot be so wicked that Jesus didn’t die for you.  As far as you think you have fallen, you cannot fall so far that Jesus cannot reach you.  No matter how mired in sin and evil you are, you cannot be so foul that the Blood of Christ cannot wash you clean.  There is no length to which He has not gone to reclaim you, and there is no one for whom He has not died.

If you are one who has never known Christ or His Word, never given Him a second thought, and lived your life entirely for yourself—He has come for you.  If you are one who rails against God, despises Him, curses Him, and tries with all your might to destroy all that He has made—He has died to save you.  If you are wounded by others, with your faith fleeting and your love grown cold, angry at God for the life He has given you—He has pursued you in all your pain.  If you are one who has known Him, and yet continually fall in your sinful weakness to evils you despise, loathing your own miserable wretchedness—He has come to rescue you.

And all this, He does out of the only motivation that could impel anyone to do such a marvelous work:  love.  No one could compel God to love you, and God had no need to save you.  His only desire, is to love you.  And in this love that transcends all of time and space, He came into your flesh and bones, that in your humanity, the divinity might suffer and die in your place.  For He so loves you, that He would pay the great price of your sin, bearing it all upon Himself, that you might live with Him forever.  This is the great comfort of His Holy Gospel:  not that you loved Him and sought Him out, but that while we were yet sinners, Jesus loved you and sought you out, giving His life that you might have life forever.

In this season of repentance, while you rightly take up disciplines to control your sinful flesh and mind, to drown your old nature and rise up in the new nature given to you by the Holy Spirit, never lose sight of the love of God for you.  For while you were yet lost in your sins, Christ died for you.  And if His love pursued you into the depths of your sin, it will not abandon you as you struggle to live in Him by faith and repentance.  Be of good cheer, even in your struggles, for God loves you, and He has left His Holy Cross as the eternal sign of that love he bears for you, and for the whole world.  Amen.