The Cross

I'm walking in to where I teach to give my final. As I have blogged before, I like to say little prayers during quiet time. In this case, it was a prayer for forgiveness. This led to me to think about why I was asking God for forgiveness. It is, in fact, Jesus crucifixion that grants us our forgiveness from God. Therefore, I should be asking that Jesus crucifixion covers my sins. Wow. That hit me like a 10 ton brick. For us, 2000 years removed, the crucifixion is a historical event, much like the revolutionary war, or for many, the holocaust. However, when I stopped to think about it, I realized that my sinful nature required a good, sinless man to be beaten and killed. How can I ask Jesus to be beaten and killed because I feel sinful? What type of horrible person finds joy in the death of another? But that is exactly what we are asked to do. How do we reconcile our need for forgiveness with our morality? How can we happily ask for forgiveness once we really understand the price? I think forgiveness should not be a happy time, but a thankful one and one of emotional pain for us as we think about the physical pain Jesus had to undergo for us.