In my last post, I declared the obvious:  Matt Chandler is a SERIOUS FELLOW.  He has moments of humor but by and large, his book is a criticism of contemporary Christian faithfulness and worse than that, a criticism of contemporary Christian knowledge about the Gospels.  Mark Dever, in writing a blurb for the back of the book describes The Explicit Gospel as “balanced, hope-filled, and very, very serious.”  I admit what I felt at times when I summarized the first two chapters of his book.  I felt like a pastor was yelling at me from the pulpit “You are all sinners and you are all going to hell.”

Then we get to Chapter Three, a very short explanation of how Christ fits into all of this anguish Chandler has caused about contemporary Christians falling short of the glory of God.  It is only nine pages long, but it is very, very clear.  He is telling us that the Son of God came to fill the chasm between God and Man.  We don’t deserve this but a loving, kind and patient God has set into action His plan to save mankind.

We are counting down days to Easter 2026.  We are twenty-one days away at this writing.  Reading pages fifty-three to sixty-two seems like a quick course in Christianity 101, the need for salvation.  As I read these pages, I also recalled an experience I had in 2004 [when I was a much younger Christian].  I watched Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.”  The first time I saw the film was in a theatre that was rented by my church.  I was shocked.  I remember leaving the theatre that day feeling like I had seen something memorable.  Maybe it was not the best context to be watching the film with so many people that I knew because it dampened my reaction.  I worried too much about what they thought. I watched it again a little later [this time alone].  I remember when I saw the graphic violence of Jesus being beaten this time, I “talked” to the film.  I remember saying “Stop!”  Then I began to cry uncontrollably. I could not take it.  It was too much.

You see I knew what Jesus was doing.  As the Roman soldiers were inflicting punishment on His flesh, He was taking my punishment.  It should have been me receiving that painful violence.  I should have been tied to a post with my skin flayed off by a flagrum, a short-handled whip with multiple leather thongs embedded with metal balls and sharp pieces of bone. The device was specifically designed to tear skin, cause deep bruising, and expose muscle tissue during scourging.  The images of Jesus enduring this were graphic, shocking.

This was grace in action.  God planned it all along.  A serious student of the Bible will figure out that God planned to sacrifice his Son for us all throughout The Book.  In two chapters of “The Explicit Gospel” Chandler has castigated us for our lax behavior toward God, explaining that we deserve God’s wrath because we have loved everything except God and now, he reveals the greatest kindness that God could do.  He loves us so much and he wants us to repent of our sins.  Instead of giving us what we deserve he puts his only Son on the cross. 

Jesus has said to his small band of Jewish disciples in the upper room, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant of my blood” [Luke 22:20].  Can you imagine what they thought when He said that.  “Jesus Christ just told us to drink blood!”   Blood is a very common part of religious services for the Jew, but it is the blood of sacrifice, not blood for drinking.  By Jewish law, Jews are never supposed to touch blood, let alone drink it.  Of course, the blood was wine but we all get the point.  Jesus was trying to communicate that His end was near and after His end, a new covenant would begin, a covenant based upon His death and resurrection.  So really His end was not going to be an end.  He would be raised from the tomb to join his Father in heaven.

It is amazing to think that the disciples who were later going to spread the way of Christ around the world could not understand what was happening in real time.  Peter is rebuked for not accepting what is going to happen to Jesus and in the Garden of Gethsemane he pulls his sword to stop the Roman soldiers from taking Jesus.  He does not understand that the Son of God is going to His death of His own volition.  He is giving His life for Peter, for you and for me. 

What is this episode of history?  It is God’s plan playing out.  God in a most dramatic fashion is reaching out to us to tell us that there is hope, even though we are all flawed creatures.  We are sinners but He knows it; He has always known it.  God knows all; that is the nature of His omniscience.  But He also knows that He needs good people on earth trying to do good things.  Could He condemn us all to hell?  Of course He could.  We deserve it.  But He doesn’t.  He atones for our sins through the sacrifice of His son. 

Why did I say “stop” and cry uncontrollably when I saw “The Passion?”  I knew what was happening.  A wonderful man, a beautiful man, an innocent man was suffering for me.  Every time the whip tore his skin, I felt shameful.  I knew His suffering was not justified.  But when they put Him on the cross, that was God’s way of telling me that I have hope of a future.

A future with Him.

*On this day, March 15, 2026 I sang the following words from “My Savior’s Love”.  It is my honor to be in the choir.

“I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus, the Nazarene, and wonder how He could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean….He took my sins and my sorrows; He made them His very own.  He bore the burden to Calv’ry and suffered and died alone.”  From Charles H. Gabriel  “My Savior’s Love”

I paid attention to the words…