The Gift of Jesus--1 Peter 1:18-19

Day 11

Last night, at a Christmas party, I hobbled in on my cane.

My knee hurt some and my leg was especially stiff after a brutal PT session the day before on exactly the 4 week mark of my knee replacement surgery.

I was making good progress–100 degree knee bend, up from 96 the session before.

I also learned that not using my cane but limping was foolish.

The therapist said use the cane to walk NORMALLY.

So I did.

The very first guy I encountered, (I didn’t know him) asked what was going on and I told him and he said, “I know an older woman neighbor who had her knee replaced and she was walking down the sidewalk without a cane in about a week.”

Well…

My very first reaction, I mean the reaction borne of hot blood and bruised ego, was to defend my apparent lack of quadriceps strength, with a hearty Eff you and you’re full of crap and who the hell are you anyway and say it in a jokey way because I was at a Christmas party.

But…

I did not.  I thought it, which is, I know, just as sinful, but I didn’t say it. 

I did say something like, “That’s remarkable.  Guys I know are about fifty/fifty with their recovery.  Some say their knee is still stiff and painful, other people, like my Mom, are banging on with their lives back to normal.”

And remembering this scene from last night’s Christmas party helped me to better understand 1 Peter 1:18-19 (from The Gift of Jesus:  Meditations For Christmas by Charles Stanley).

1 Peter 1:18-19 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

I’ve always struggled with the very earthy and elemental process of my redemption through Christ’s blood.

The whole concept just reminds me of what blood smells like, how it feels, what it means when I see MY blood, which is never good.

My redemption through Christ’s sacrificial blood on the cross is ACTUAL, so maybe I should contemplate what Peter means by saying I wasn’t redeemed with silver or gold, but with Christ’s blood.

I have resisted this contemplation for 5 decades.

Richard Baxter, an Anglican priest who died in 1691, was familiar with the factors of considering Scripture and rolling around with (my words, not his) the meanings:

“The first factor is consideration. By this I mean the reading over and repeating of God’s reasonings until His way of thinking becomes our way. We might call this “reflection” or “deliberation.” It is to hold a thought in our mind and cherish it. It includes visualizing it, although it is not limited to the sense of sight. This process opens the door between the head and the heart.

The intellect, having received truths, stores them in the memory; and “consideration” of them sends them into the affections, or emotions and will. If the obstructions between the conscious and subconscious levels of our personality were opened, and our feelings corresponded to our understanding, how helpful education would be.”

I have “considered” Jesus daily for a period of years now.  I’ve chased all over the Bible, all over primary sources and the internet, and  all over what others have written about Scripture and I am BETTER for it.

So when Peter says I am redeemed through Christ’s blood, what is actually being said is Jesus paid a RANSOM for me.

Redeeming my life requires the life of another–Jesus.

I.H. Marshall writes in Aspects of Atonement:

“The price is a substitute for the person redeemed, and in that the price is costly, it is, we might say, painful. Hence the concept of substitution is present and the cost may be regarded as a penalty in the broad sense. This is manifestly the case where it is the precious blood of Christ that brings about people’s redemption. Consequently, the principle of penal substitution can be seen to be effective here. A ransom need not imply substitution of one person for another. It may simply be a monetary payment. Peter, however, makes the point that we were ransomed with blood. There is the clear implication that the price is of infinite worth so that it avails for all people; the principle that the death of this particular One is able to ransom many sinners is manifest. Since, as we have seen, death is the ultimate consequence of sin, and Christ suffered death, it would seem to me to require special pleading to argue that his death was anything other than a bearing of the death that sin inflicts upon sinners so that they might not have to bear it.” 

How’s that for contemplative?

Jesus bore my sin, so that I don’t have to bear it and my place in Heaven is assured.

Basically, I say, “Look at the shambles I’ve made of my life.  I’ve hurt literally dozens of people in my lifetime.  I’m dirty.  Heck, I’ve even been crabby with Karen this morning because I overslept and I’m sneezing and I haven’t had any coffee yet.”

And Jesus says, “Look at what I’ve done for you. I have taken your dirt and smeared it all over me. You are clean, I am filthy. See me dirty on the cross. See you clean beneath it.”

For once, contemplating Christ’s blood didn’t put me off.

And I didn’t tell the guy at the party to Eff off either.

That’s progress, of a sort, I think.  🙂

Lord, we are grateful that our salvation isn’t dependent on silver, gold, or other earthly materials, but on the priceless sacrifice of Jesus.

Lord, help us to always value the true and lasting worth of our redemption over material gain and wealth.  We pray for those who seek meaning in transient and perishable things.  Help open their eyes to the eternal redemption offered through Christ.

Amen.