RisenSample

Surprising Redemption

Today is an invitation to open the door to the implications of the Resurrection and its power in your life during this Easter season.

As we see in the film Risen, the most unlikely people are found at the cross. One of the most surprising people who attended the crucifixion was Mary Magdalene. She found that the cross is the place of redemption.

Mary Magdalene was one of the least likely characters in the New Testament to receive redemption. Maybe you think you’re the least likely person to receive redemption—or you’re thinking of someone you know who seems too far gone to be redeemed.

In Luke 8:2, we read that Mary Magdalene was a woman from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons. These seven demons made her do terrible things. She had been in bondage for a long time. Satan was at work in her life to destroy her emotionally and spiritually. She was a woman “from the streets.” In short, Mary was in a hopeless and helpless situation. But Jesus delivered her and set her free.

The cross is a place of exchange. Unfathomable exchanges take place when you go to the cross. You go from darkness to light. You discover the power of God as He begins to take control, so you move from weakness to power. You move from guilt to grace. You exchange past failures for future hope. This is what Jesus did for Mary Magdalene.

But redemption is costly. For me to receive forgiveness, Jesus had to be made sinful for me and die in my place. I can imagine Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane praying for me. I imagine Him saying, “God, is there any other way this person could get into heaven except for me to go and die on the cross for all of his sins and pay for them?” And God says, “Son, You know there’s no other way. You know that no sin can enter into heaven. Somebody has to pay for that man’s sin.”

Jesus went through all this trial, and all the suffering, and all the scourging, and then they nailed Him to a cross. By going to the cross, Jesus was saying, “Okay, Father, You said if I took all the judgment for this one man’s sin, that he could go to heaven. So all right, Father. Let the judgment fall.”

And in that moment of agony, Jesus from the cross cried out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Then the skies turned dark and for three and a half hours there was silence in heaven. At that time, Jesus was taking on the sin of the world.

That is love. And that is love in the first degree. When they drove those nails through the hands of Jesus, they went straight into the heart of God. This is what the Easter season is really all about.