When you’re talking about Jesus Loves Kalamazoo one of the best ways to jog someone’s memory is to mention the bright red T-shirts. It’s obvious on the front of the T-shirt that we are representing Jesus, but the part I like the best is what’s printed on the back.  Do you remember what it says?  If you have to go to your dresser drawer and get it out to look at it I’ll wait . . . Ok, what does it say?  “Jesus Paid the Price in Full!”

What does that mean, really?  It assumes that we know that there is a price to be paid.  If you go out to your car in the grocery store parking lot and find a huge scratch on the side, you might think “someone’s going to pay!”  How much more anger must God feel when He sees how we have messed up the perfect world that He made!  God has righteous wrath over our idolatry, rebellion, racism, violence, and our exploitation of His good creation with pornography and pollution. God looked down on His broken world and justifiably declared, “Someone’s going to pay!”

But who would that someone be?  All of us have sinned and deserve to pay the wages of our sin, namely death, not just temporal but eternal (Rom 3:23, 6:23). But God loves us and so He did what was necessary for the wages of our sin to be paid in full.  God sent His perfect Son, Jesus Christ, into this fallen world to live a perfect life and ultimately to suffer the death penalty that our sin deserves. This is what it really means for Jesus to be our Savior. This is what it means for Jesus to have “paid the price in full.”

Sadly, not everyone who claims to be a Christian understands the cross in this way.  Many see it as a sad commentary on what sinful people are capable of. There are many who think this talk of blood sacrifice is too violent.  They don’t like the notion that God demands perfection and that there is a price to be paid for anyone who falls short.  How could such a God be considered loving? After all, doesn’t love win?  Isn’t it enough to just try hard? But the reality is we don’t take sin nearly as seriously as God does.  He is holy, just, righteous, and perfect. He can’t just wince at sin like an old grandfather and say, “Oh, that’s ok. I would have done the same thing too if I were your age.”

No, our God demands holiness and perfection. It’s an impossible standard for us, but not for Jesus. As a human being who is also fully God, He is holy and perfect. Jesus suffered rejection, abuse, betrayal, torture, and crucifixion not for His own sins but for ours. God is love, and He loves us so much that He gave His only Son, so that all who believe in Him would not have to suffer the death penalty but could have eternal life.  What more loving thing could God possibly do than that?

Now, those of us who know Jesus as Savior need to love people enough to tell them about His saving work on their behalf. Faith comes by hearing the message (Rom. 10:17).  We need to ‘walk the walk’ and not just ‘talk the talk.’ We know that Jesus loves Kalamazoo and we want everyone to know it too. Certainly we’re called to show His love tangibly (listening to people, praying with them, helping them find resources). Given the opportunity, we can articulate it in words as well, wearing our heart on our sleeve, and putting our mouth where our T-shirt is.

~Pastor Paul Naumann. St. Michael Lutheran Church