It Doesn't Make Sense

I know I often take my faith for granted. I was raised in a Christian home. I know all the Bible stories, have sung tons of hymns and have lots of verses memorized. Sadly, one of our many human defects if forgetting the wonder of what Christ has done for us. Until you have a two-year-old remind you…

Last week I started reading Passion Hymns for a Kid’s Heart by Bobbie Wolgemuth and Joni Eareckson Tada to Emry for our morning Bible story. Although the stories are a little long yet for her and the pictures a bit too few, she still hears some and loves to flip and find the pictures. Her favorite? Jesus nailed to the cross, flanked by the two thieves.

The first time she sat and just looked at this picture, I told her that was Jesus who had died on the cross (a story she has heard several times already in her young life). The next time she looked at it, she pointed to one of the thieves. I told her that was a thief, he was bad and so he had to die on a cross. Bad is something she does understand (to the extent of her being told her actions or disobedience are bad and worthy of punishment), so I then pointed to Jesus and said, “But Jesus was not bad. He was good. He died on the cross because Emry is bad. Because Mama is bad. Because the thief is bad. But Jesus is good.”

Silence followed this explanation as she looked at the picture. I could tell she was thinking. Trying to make sense of how one man is on the cross because he is bad while another Man is on the cross because He is good. In the end, I don’t think she made sense of it. But like a trusting two-year-old, she took my word for it. Now she looks at the picture and says the thief is bad, but Jesus is good.

Because, the truth is, it doesn’t make sense. There is no logic that Jesus is good but died on a cross while the thief is bad and died on the cross. And even though we explain that Christ died on the cross because we are bad, it still doesn’t make sense. And it’s really not supposed to. Because if we could make sense of salvation through human terms, then we could save ourselves. But we can’t. And so Jesus, who is good, died on the cross.

Someday, I pray, Emry comes to understand the full meaning of the picture she searches through that book to find. That she comes to understand how she is bad, but Jesus is good. That she can’t save herself, but Jesus can. It may not make sense…but it sure is the greatest thing anyone can know.