Jesus looks down from the cross and says, “Who do you think you are that I’m up here suffering and dying for you?”
It’s a question of identity. Who are you, really? Google “genders list” and you’ll find 58 genders identified by ABC news. That’s a symptom that people today are looking for their true identity. This Lent we’re reading Romans at the holy cross to find our true identity before God. And it’s far deeper and more significant than gender. Who are you before God? That’s the most basic question about identity. Everything else flows from who you are before God.
The epistle to the Romans is about identity before God. Chapter 1 describes the identity of Gentiles by their sins, especially their sexual sins. Chapter 2 describes the identity of many religious people by their self-righteousness. Those two chapters identify us all as sinners. Romans chapter 3 invites us to see our true selves in light of the cross. Romans 3:23-24 says, “There is no difference. All have sinned and are falling short of the glory of God, being made right with God by His grace as a gift through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” We all wonder about aspects of who we truly are, but this is most basic. We stand before God as sinners, and we stand before the holy cross trusting that Jesus makes us dear children of God.
Problems come at us, people come at us, questions swirl in our minds. So much of life is at a horizontal level. Today try thinking vertically. Look up to Jesus. “Who do you think you are that I’m up here suffering and dying for you?” Jesus, I’m a sinner and my identity is all wrapped up in You.
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