There is nothing in this world that more forcibly engages our attention than the love of a Saviour who gave himself for us.

With this news, our history (world & personal) focuses on just one event. This is an act of cosmic proportions that the Creator himself has done for me.

I know what sort of person I am. Deep down there is a lot I am not proud of. On judgement day, when the secrets of the heart are finally revealed before a cosmic audience, I will be acutely embarrassed and ashamed. To think that God should express his love even for me by giving his Son, his only Son, a Saviour for me, engages my attention.

That one event, Christ’s death, becomes my whole reason for life. Because it tells me that he who knew no sin became sin that I might become the righteousness of God, everything in life becomes filtered through that one event. There is not one act of a human being throughout history that we can view without understanding it in the light of what God has done for humanity at Calvary. There is not one war, there is not one despot, there is not one evil perpetrated, there is not one act of good or loving kindness, that we can understand without understanding it in the light of the love of a Saviour who gave himself for us.

How many times have I been told (when I was a prison chaplain) that Jesus’ teaching about “turn the other cheek” doesn’t work?! Of course it doesn’t work if your understanding is not filtered through the light that shines from the Cross of Christ. This is why this one event so grabs our attention. How staggering is it that God’s ultimate response to our rejection of him at creation in Eden is that he should become one of us and allow us to reject him all over again at Calvary? And the irony (if that’s the right word) is that this second rejection, this slapping God again as he turns the other cheek, becomes the means of our reconciliation.

Yes it works.

Turning the other cheek works not because the Lord Jesus wants us to be seen as weak, to allow the bully to walk over us, but because, understood properly through the Cross, it is an act of reconciliation.

Humanity has slapped God in the face and has told him we don’t trust him. The mess the world is in is the direct result of this rejection. At the Cross God has turned the other cheek. He has opened himself up to rejection a second time. Christians have the unique message that in this act of God there is reconciliation.

We have a high calling. We look at the world first and foremost with our eyes focused on the cross. When we hear the call for compassion and meaning our ears are tuned to the voice of Calvary. We know that every person’s greatest need is reconciliation with God.
And so we look for opportunities to speak to our neighbours about Christ. We talk to colleagues about God. And we respect them as God respects them. If they tell us they don’t want to talk about God, we respect that. We will turn the other cheek, risking rejection but seeking reconciliation.

We are celebrating Easter. Our attention has been hijacked by the love of a Saviour who gave himself for us. Consider the implications of this radical event. What does it mean for me that God the Creator has placed himself in the hands of his creatures, to be rejected a second time, but by this act of rejection bringing reconciliation? Let’s not be afraid to allow the implications of this event inform and shape everything we do, for that is who we are, and let us unashamedly bring this unique message to the people we encounter day by day.

Feature photo: splityam