Jesus is the Savior We Need – April 5, 2019

Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
1 Corinthians 1:22-25

Jesus is the Savior We Need

Are you disappointed when another person doesn’t live up to your expectations? Sometimes we become disillusioned with leaders and role models when they don’t speak or act in the way that we believe they should. Or we become frustrated with politicians who don’t govern the way that we think is best.

In our bible passage for today, the apostle Paul spoke of people who were disappointed in the Savior that God had sent. Jesus simply didn’t live up to their expectations. The Jews, who had experienced so many miracles throughout their history, refused to accept a Messiah who couldn’t even save himself when his enemies nailed him to a cross. And the Greeks of Paul’s time had sophisticated tastes in religion. They didn’t have time for a God who would demean himself by taking on the human condition—including a bloody, shameful death.

Throughout our history, humans have imagined that we know better than God does about how the world should be run. We dare to be disappointed in him when he doesn’t answer our prayers, or when he allows suffering and loss in our lives. And Jesus is not the Savior we would expect. But he is the Savior we need.

We didn’t need a powerful magician who would entertain us even as he granted our every wish. What we do need is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who through his humble sacrifice was able to conquer sin, death, and the devil. We didn’t need another high-minded guru with eloquent speech and lofty (but ultimately empty) ideas. What we do need is Jesus Christ who is the very Word of God in human flesh, communicating God’s love for us perfectly.

If you are still searching for a different Savior, you will be disappointed. But if you come to see Christ as the Savior you needed and still need, he will never let you down.

Prayer:
Lord God, thank you for sending me the Savior I needed rather than the one I thought I wanted. Amen.