It's not fair

It's not fair!" – If we paid a fee every time we heard someone say this or say it ourselves, we would probably get rich. Justice has been a rare commodity since the beginning of human history.

As early as kindergarten, most of us had the painful experience that life is not always fair. So, as much as we resent it, we prepare ourselves to be deceived, lied to, swindled, or otherwise taken advantage of by self-serving peers.

Jesus, too, must have felt he was being treated unfairly. When he entered Jerusalem a week before his crucifixion, the crowd cheered him and waved palm fronds in the traditional homage due to an anointed king: "The next day the great crowd that came to the festival when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet him, crying out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel! But Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, your king is coming, riding on a colt" (John 12,12-15).

It was a big day. But just a week later, the crowd was shouting, 'Crucify him! Crucify him!" This was by no means fair. He had never harmed anyone, on the contrary, he loved them all. He had never sinned and therefore didn't deserve to be killed. However, false testimonies and corrupt representatives of the authorities had turned people against him.

Most of us have to honestly admit that we have occasionally acted unfairly towards other people. However, we all hope, deep down, that we deserve to be treated fairly, even if we don't always behave accordingly. Oddly enough, the gospel, which means "The Good News", doesn't always seem to be fair either. The fact is that we are all sinners and deserve punishment. But God does not give us what we absolutely deserve, death, but gives us exactly what we do not deserve - grace, forgiveness and life.

Paul writes: “For while we were still weak, Christ died for us ungodly. Now hardly anyone dies for the sake of a just man; he may risk his life for the sake of good. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How much more shall we now be saved from wrath by him, now that we have been justified by his blood. For if while we were still enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more shall we be saved through his life now that we have been reconciled" (Romans 5,6-10).

Grace is not justified. With it we are granted something that we do not deserve at all. God gives it to us because, despite our sinfulness, he loves and appreciates us very much. His appreciation goes so far that he has taken our sins upon himself, has forgiven us, even given us fellowship with himself and with one another. This perspective is fundamentally different from the one we usually take. As children, we may have often felt it was mean that life wasn't fair.

As you, dear reader, get to know Jesus better and better, you will also learn something of the injustice in the inherent good news: Jesus gives you exactly what you don't deserve at all. He forgives all your sins and gives you eternal life. It's not fair, but it's the best news you can really hear and believe.

by Joseph Tkach