Welcome to the Claar's!

I'm sure the driver of the car in front of me didn't appreciate the irony of her bumper stickers:

"War is not the answer" --and-- "Keep abortion legal".

Hmm. Violence is bad, unless it is against someone who can't fight back...

Sigh.

You know that your a total geek, and more than a little tired, when you look at the time on a digital clock and think "Gee, that's the directory Microsoft Office sticks stuff into..."

Carly (the one in my spanish class) made a comment when we were learning the names of various holidays: "I don't know what was so good about 'Good Friday'". It made me think. Growing up in the church, you just accept those things without necessarily thinking about it. Good Friday? It comes right after that day with the funny name, Monday Thursday, which means "the last supper". You find out later that it is really Maundy Thursday, but that still makes just as little sense. Good Friday? That just means the crucifixion.

Good Friday...Hmm. Well, it certainly wasn't good for Jesus. But it was good for us: In fact, it is the key to the entire christian thing: As Matt Redman says: "You were punished, I go free". Yeah, you've heard it all before. So have I. As I struggled to come up with a way to explain the whole thing, I came up with this example.

Scott Peterson murdered his wife and child. He has been found guilty, and has been given the death penalty. He will one day be executed for his crime. How would we feel if someone good--pick your best good person--went to the judge and said "I will pay the price for this crime". And what if the judge agreed, and let Peterson go scot-free? It would be good news for Scott! Not so good for the other person...

I didn't like that thought at all! I want him to have to pay, big time. Yet in the spiritual realm, this is exactly the exchange that took place on that first Good Friday:

We are just as deserving of the ultimate penalty as Scott or any other sinner. (No, that doesn't mean I think he shouldn't have to face his consequences here on this earth). But this illustration brought home to me the scandal of the gospel: The innocent pays for the guilty. The guilty (that's us!) go free. Our human accounting doesn't like that equation, so we try to get around it: We're not that bad, surely a good god wouldn't do that, whatever. But the fact remains, in the words of the old hymn: