The insidious character...
Illustration
Object:
The insidious character of sin is transmitted in every version of the Passion narrative. About this topic Martin Luther says: "We should weep for ourselves, because sin has polluted us so, and because so terrible a judgment awaits us. But where is the man to be found who weeps? The deeper men sink into the slime of sin, the more secure and joyful they grow" (Sermons on the Passion of Christ, p. 153).
John Calvin made a similar point, with good insight about how best to appreciate what Christ did for us that first Holy Week: "For if we are desirous to profit aright by meditating on the death of Christ, we ought to begin with cherishing abhorrence of our sins, in proportion to the severity of the punishment which he [Christ] endured. This will cause us not only to feel displeasure and shame to ourselves, but to be penetrated with deep grief, and therefore to seek the medicine with becoming ardor, and at the same time to experience confusion and trembling" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVII/1, p. 290).
Calvin also profoundly helps us describe how the story of Jesus' Passion changes us: "We see how the Lord in a moment forms the hearts to new feelings and raises up by a spirit of fortitude those who had previously failed" (Ibid., p. 333).
Like new things come out of death at spring (the new leaves on the trees taking the place of the ones that had fallen in autumn), like the younger generations come to power as the old ones age and die, so from Jesus' death we get a new life. God has this thing about making something from nothing, about making strength from weakness. But we see the "something" (the good things in life and God's presence in it) more clearly when we see our nothingness (our insidious sinfulness) first. This is what Lent is all about.
John Calvin made a similar point, with good insight about how best to appreciate what Christ did for us that first Holy Week: "For if we are desirous to profit aright by meditating on the death of Christ, we ought to begin with cherishing abhorrence of our sins, in proportion to the severity of the punishment which he [Christ] endured. This will cause us not only to feel displeasure and shame to ourselves, but to be penetrated with deep grief, and therefore to seek the medicine with becoming ardor, and at the same time to experience confusion and trembling" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVII/1, p. 290).
Calvin also profoundly helps us describe how the story of Jesus' Passion changes us: "We see how the Lord in a moment forms the hearts to new feelings and raises up by a spirit of fortitude those who had previously failed" (Ibid., p. 333).
Like new things come out of death at spring (the new leaves on the trees taking the place of the ones that had fallen in autumn), like the younger generations come to power as the old ones age and die, so from Jesus' death we get a new life. God has this thing about making something from nothing, about making strength from weakness. But we see the "something" (the good things in life and God's presence in it) more clearly when we see our nothingness (our insidious sinfulness) first. This is what Lent is all about.
