Readings

Isaiah 53:4-12

Psalm 91:9-16

Hebrews 5:1-10

Mark 10:35-45

Devotion

Peace be with you!

I do not deserve Jesus’ forgiveness through his grace. I hated my mom as a teenager. I have lied to friends and family. I am divorced. I do not keep the Ten Commandments – let alone all of the laws of the Torah. I am a sinner.

Jesus comes into our lives and becomes the ransom for our sins. Jesus enters the world as both God and a sinless human being; he is perfect. He is above the law because he is sinless, and yet he associates with sinners and outsiders, not with the elite. How many times have you walked away from a situation or a person because you felt above them? I do it all the time, and when I catch myself doing it I stop myself and try to understand the situation or person. I have a colorful set of friends from all different walks of life. I have friends with tattoos all over their bodies to friends who are pastors. Jesus hung out with all sort of people from all different walks of life. He knew these folks are not as burdened with pride, but are much more humbly aware that they need a Savior.

Jesus immersed himself in communities where the “righteous” religious people refused to go. Not only that but Jesus took on the sins of the world – past, present, and future – and made them his own. Luther says in his Commentary on Galatians 3:13, “And all the prophets saw this, that Christ was to become the greatest thief, murderer, adulterer, robber, desecrator, blasphemer, etc., there has ever been anywhere in the world. Now He is not the Son of God, born of the Virgin.  But He is sinner, who has and bears the sin of Paul, the former blasphemer, persecutor, and assaulter; of Peter, who denied Christ; of David, who was an adulterer and a murderer, and who caused the Gentiles to blaspheme the name of the Lord (Rom. 2:24). In short, He has and bears all the sins of all men in His body—not in the sense that He has committed them but in the sense that He took these sins, committed by us, upon His own body, in order to make satisfaction for them with His own blood.”

Jesus fulfills the law and brings forgiveness and grace into the world. According to the law, we should do righteous works and earn our own way into heaven, which we fail to do on a daily basis. Jesus takes on our sins and takes them to the cross so that can become the righteousness of God in him (Mark 10:45).

Jesus takes on our sins as if they are his own and pays the ultimate price. Jesus takes the sins of the world – past, present, and future – and pays the ransom. This salvation is nothing we could do on our own; only Jesus could accomplish our freedom from the penalty of sin.

Although I am a sinner, I am forgiven through Jesus Christ paying the ransom on the cross.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for sending Jesus to accept our sins as his own and to meet us in our daily routines. Help us to live a life worthy of all you have done for us.  Thank you for loving us when we were “yet sinners” (Romans 5:8). Your love is unconditional. Amen.

Works Cited

Thanks to the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Reflective Questions

Please answer the following reflective questions in the comments below.  Please agree to disagree and be respectful to each other. (If you have not already done so, please also take a moment, to sign the comment covenant.)  You can answer as many questions as you would like. 

1. The Great Exchange means that Jesus has taken all of your sin on himself and given you his righteousness in its place. How does the Great Exchange affect your daily life?

2. How does the freedom we have found in Christ call us to a new life?