Some stories are true, not just because they were true once, but because they happen more than once, each telling true in its own way.
There is an ancient story, told again and again. In one of its more recent tellings, this huge black man, John Coffey, is sent to a Louisiana prison for murder. The irony is that he was not the killer of the young victims, but one who sought to bring back to the living those who were dead. As those responsible for John’s keeping soon discover, he does have the power to bring back those recently dead, at least in the case of Mr. Jingles. His power of healing, though, is thoroughly amazing. As a part of the healing, John takes the sickness and pain into himself in order to free the sufferer.
In the end, though, the head guard, Paul, finds that he must “kill one of God’s true miracles” for a crime that he did not commit. Paul offers John escape, even though he realizes that this will cost him his job, and perhaps time in prison. Yet John declines. This simple man is weary from carrying the wickedness, the evil in the world that surrounds him. So he dies a horrible and public death, an innocent suffering for a crime that was not his.
Does this story sound familiar? It should. It was told hundreds of years before even Jesus was born:
Isaiah 53:4-12
Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him with pain.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the LORD shall prosper.
Out of his anguish he shall see light;
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out himself to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Before Jesus, who knew what this story meant? Did anyone struggle to believe that this could ever be true? Since Jesus, this story has credibility. Since Jesus this story has power even though it has been told more than once. It still rings true without being trite. Interestingly, the newer stories told in our lifetime tend to echo the story of Jesus. Is it coincidence, after all, that John Coffey’s initials are what they are?
Even though the story of the suffering servant has been told more than once, it is the story of Jesus that gives all of the other stories believability and meaning. Because God might choose to die for his people, it becomes believable that one person might choose to die for another. That kind of sacrifice is now plausible.
Yet must we die in order to live a sacrificial life? Or is that question an oxymoron?
Jesus said that one who would keep life would lose it, but that one who would lose life may keep it. If we stop for a moment and think about what we have learned about our faith, we realize that God calls us daily to sacrifice our wishes, our way, our will, and yes even our life for others. If we live the story of Jesus, we do this for our children. We do this for our family. We do this for those to whom we minister.
If we live the story of Jesus.
Blessings,
Ron
