Who Do You Say I AM? A Journey With Jesus.نموونە

My REDEEMER, The One Who Goes Before Me

Picture a reporter sitting across the table from a martyr awaiting the death penalty, retelling his life’s most significant moments in the hope that it would inspire the next generation to stay true to their cause.

According to Christian tradition, Mark wrote his gospel account to the Roman church, penning down the gospel as he heard it from Simon Peter. Now Peter was not necessarily already imprisoned and sentenced to death when Mark wrote this. Mark likely gathered the facts as Peter recalled them over the years as they worked and had fellowship together. But the intensity, simplicity, and pace throughout Mark’s gospel – which is also the shortest gospel – seems to be that of a man who doesn’t mince his words and is pressed for time to get to the point.

Mark opens this gospel with the words “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God,” (Mark 1:1). This is also the climatic claim made at the cross by one of the Roman centurions who crucified Jesus (Mark 15:39), making this gospel even more fitting to Christians from a Gentile background.

Reading the gospel of Mark there is no doubt that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus is also the way-maker, reuniting God with people from all cultures and backgrounds. He is the One who came to serve, to take upon Himself our guilt, our shame, our sins, and our burdens. We are reunited with God through Christ’s sacrifice. Unburdened by Him who took our burdens upon Himself. Jesus is our Redeemer, the One who has gone before all of us to prepare the way back to God’s presence.

When God turned His back on Jesus for that moment on the cross, He opened His arms to all of us. The curtain that divided man and God, which divided people, was now torn in half, and we gained all access to the presence of God. The symbol of strict religious boundaries between God and people was torn apart to set in motion relational access for all. Through the blood of Christ, our souls were repurchased from darkness to light. Our bondage was broken and slavery to sin was subdued.

Jesus is still making the way for us today, every day. A way back to God the Father. Despite our background, our culture, or our associations. Many of us however look at the way prepared for us, we are glad for the opened gate before us, but instead, we still choose to stay put… To stay stuck in sin.

Yet, our redemption through Christ not only offers us forgiveness from sin but also freedom from sin. If Jesus is your Messiah, your savior, your redeemer, your way-maker, and your gatekeeper back to God the Father, then you cannot choose to stay stuck in sin. Because He bailed you out of sin’s bondage, setting you free to live completely forgiven and liberated. And with a cry resembling the roar of a lion, a cry so loud that it echoes in all eternity, Jesus had the final say over sin and death!

Today, reflect on, pray about, and lay down any sin that keeps you from the freedom you should have in Jesus.

● Read Mark 15:33-39