S-I is for Saved from the Inevitable

There is however, thanks to God's mercy, an alternative to this otherwise inevitable course of our disease. There is now a treatment for sinners. It is not the kind of treatment they deserve, but far kinder: a treatment that remedies the worst of this diagnosed malady at once, and the rest of it eventually.

The treatment begins with Jesus Christ. It has been pointed out that Jesus gave people what they needed, not necessarily what they wanted. But this is no stinginess: He offered more not less. Of Sam Walton it was claimed that he gave his customers "a high quality product at a low price." The same can be said of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. For He gives a magnificent product through the multiplication of His rejection and desertion, of His agony with the sting of shame, of His God-forsaken death and revolutionary resurrection. This product is of the highest quality, since His atonement is for all sins, no matter how large, small or many. By this atonement, even those who made consumeristic demands of God, a blasphemy, can despite that be justified. So can we who have judged God according to our wants and needs. Even for mentally forming "a better god," an idol, and lavishing our praise on it: the quality of Jesus' atonement is so high it covers even this arrogance against the Creator. Through His grace we are still consumers, but now we are consumers of Him, of His very body and of His very forgiving blood.

"Yes," replies the caveat-emptor buyer, "but what great price must I give to receive such high quality atonement and forgiveness? To be made right before God, expunging a lifetime of wrongs, must I give all my goods, my family, even my own life? Not that it wouldn't be worth all that to purchase a blessed eternity. But how much must I give?"

Nothing. It is free. Retailers have what they call a "loss leader," selling a small item at a clear loss in order to entice people into the store. Jesus Christ is the Kingdom's loss-leader. To all sinners who have "taken their worship elsewhere" God calls after us, "Wait, come back, here is a bargain you can't pass up. Life for free!" What a loss God suffers, losing His dearest Son, and obtaining only the like of us in exchange. But such is God's love, incarnate in Christ. The loss-leader works, God gets us back, and even Jesus gets raised in time to be the greeter at the door as we come in. Hallelujah! This is the beginning of God's treatment of us. And what a beginning! We could scarcely ask for more; but more there is.