Over the last two weeks in worship, I have looked at several “theories of atonement.” The one thing they all have in common (except Moral Influence theory) is “someone had to die.” I also said that Jesus’ death was the one death to end all sacrificial deaths; no one else on earth ever needed to suffer or die physically in order to receive and know the saving grace of God, to know salvation. However, something still has to die – not our bodies, but our egos.
Lent has given us the opportunity to give up things like chocolate, swearing, and binge-watching. These are good steps in spiritual self-discipline, but if we want to finally experience spiritual growth, something has to die: our ego. It is our egos that put ourselves and our appetites ahead of others and ahead of God. It’s as old as Adam and Eve. When we choose self over others and God, we create separation, the very definition of sin. This was Jesus’ battle in the desert. What and who would come first in his life? After those 40 days, Jesus was resolute that he would worship the Lord God and Him only (Luke 4:8). His ego had to die, and he kept reminding his disciples to do the same.
I encourage you to come to worship this Palm Sunday and then to both Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services. In these you will feel Jesus’ wrestling with his ego and desires before finally allowing them to die so that God could live fully in him. You will have the opportunity to do the same.
Do we have to die? In order to live, yes.
