April 5, 2023 – Luke 23:1-25
As a mom of four, I spent plenty of time attempting to teach my kids some fundamental life lessons. Things like being thankful for the things you’ve been given. To celebrate with friends or loved ones when something good happens to them, even if you wish it had happened to you. (And if you can’t celebrate, at least keep your mouth shut!) To do the right thing, even when it isn’t the easy thing. To work hard and to celebrate big and small wins – because the good things that happen to us are forgotten much more quickly than the bad. As I consider all of that, it occurs to me that those lessons are really about mitigating one constant truth.
Life isn’t fair.
People are going to be terrible (see yesterday’s devo!) Good things will happen to people who don’t deserve it and justice on this side of heaven can feel elusive. And in today’s reading, the worst of things is happening to the only person on earth who could ever say they truly didn’t deserve it. Jesus didn’t defend himself to the political authorities, and even though they couldn’t find a good reason to convict him, they were interested in self-preservation over justice. Life isn’t fair.
But that truth works for us as well. There’s a song from the early 2000s, and a line that has always stuck with me is the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair. For those of us who follow Jesus, life isn’t fair. We receive the gift of eternal life with Jesus. (John 3:16) A rich and satisfying life. (John 10:10) A peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:6) and a hope and a faith that allows us to never give up. (2 Corinthians 4:16)
Questions for reflection:
- What is something you are thankful for this Holy Week?
- How has Jesus made your life ‘not fair’?
- Lift up a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God today.