Thoughts for the Day

… he will save his people from their sins.                  Matthew 1:21

The angel announced to Joseph that Jesus will be born ‘to save his people from their sins’.  Through the lens of the New Testament, we can see that the Old Testament points to this as the way that God will reconcile the demands of his love for us and the demands of his righteousness.  But I suspect our familiarity with the gospel story desensitises us as to just how outrageous it is.

Within just three verses in the opening chapter of his gospel Matthew challenges us with Jesus’ miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit, his mind-blowing identity as ‘God with us’ and this seemingly impossible purpose, to save his people from their sins.  And for the first of many times Matthew notes how Jesus thus fulfils prophecy.  It’s both a validation for his Jewish readers and a comforting reminder that this is all part of God’s unfolding plan.

By definition, sin is the transgression of divine law.  So, it is hardly surprising that, where the prevailing culture doesn’t acknowledge God, talking about sin is felt to be archaic and irrelevant.  Strangely though, it doesn’t seem very popular in Christian circles either.  Is that because forgiveness is considered, in a sense, cheap?  A quick ‘sorry’ and unconditional love will put us right with God?  But, according to the Bible, forgiveness wasn’t cheap.  It cost God’s life in Jesus.  And whether or not God’s love is unconditional, His forgiveness isn’t.  It is connected to an uncomfortable word ‘repentance’.

Sorry is such a hard word to say, even without adding what one is sorry for (which can simply be for being found out!)  But sorry doesn’t come close to repentance.  Repentance says, “I wish I hadn’t done that; I turn my back on the sort of actions, even the thoughts, that led to this … permanently”.  That’s much harder!