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The Weight

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UNDER THE RADAR

UNDER THE RADAR

Keith Bodger

We can’t know the weight of the cross on Jesus, but we can imagine it. We can ponder it. Despite our sinful lives and the pain through which we go, nothing can compare to the weight of sin on Jesus on the cross. Every sin was applied to Jesus on the cross. Every sin of Genghis Kahn, of Hitler, of the Khmer Rouge. But more applicably, every one of your sins and every one of mine was laid upon Jesus. And, speaking for myself, that’s a lot of sin. Every person’s sin committed in the past, right now and every sin committed in the future, was accounted for on the cross.

Accounted for…what does that mean? As Jesus died on the cross, he said, “Tetelestai.” In English, it’s translated as “It is finished.” Tetelestai is a Greek word and is an accounting term: “paid in full.” All the debts are paid, they’re accounted for. We owe nothing because Jesus paid our debts. He paid our enormous debts by suffering and dying on the cross.

Isaiah 53 foretold the suffering that Jesus would bear on the cross. It’s astounding what Jesus went through.

Verse three—“He was despised and rejected by men.” Haven’t we all been despised and rejected? By classmates, colleagues, kids, spouses, friends and strangers. For me, I’ve been despised or rejected for good reason. For Jesus, it was for me and you, not because of what he did.

Verse four —”Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.” Our grief was on him and he carried our sorrows. We have all grieved. Many far more than others. But all our grief has been borne (held up, supported, propped) by Jesus. Our sorrows…I’ve had some. So many have had so much more. But Jesus carried all our sorrow.

Verse five —”But he was pierced for our transgressions; crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed.” Upon him, not upon us, but upon him, was the chastisement. We get the peace and the healed wounds. Jesus gets the chastisement.

Verse six—”All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned — every one — to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” The iniquity of who? All. Everyone reading this. All. No exception. We’re all guilty and he makes us free.

Verse seven—”He was oppressed, and he was afflicted.” It isn’t getting any better for Jesus on the cross. What else has been laid on him? Oppression and affliction and then in verse eight, oppression and judgment. He was oppressed. We are relieved of the punishment for our sins because he takes them on.

Verse ten —”Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief.” This is so tough to reconcile. We get the relief. Jesus gets “crushed and grief.” For what? For you and me.

Everything was on Jesus. Everything. I can’t pretend to know what it was like for Jesus. There have been times when I’ve been troubled by something. Usually, I can get to sleep. But many times, I’ll wake up at 3 a.m. and my mind will start whirring about something that’s going on and I won’t get back to sleep. Sound familiar? Was it like that for Jesus on the cross? Do you ever shudder and shake your head with shame when you think of something you said or something you did? Was Jesus shuddering with our shame and sin—not his, mind you, but ours.

We talk about the physical death on the cross at Easter. And it was awful. But what was going through Jesus’ mind? He faced despising, rejection, sorrow, grief, chastisement, oppression, affliction, judgment and guilt. As he hung on the cross, and tended to the thief, did his mind race with worries? Was he shuddering, not just from the excruciating pain, but also from the weight our sin.

Weight that only he could fully bear.

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