Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…
– 1 TIMOTHY 1:15

There are a lot of reasonable justifications for the way I’m playfully mocked by my friends and family. Among the most abundant sources of material for their ridicule is my frequent attempts at finding MacGyver-like solutions to my everyday problems. I’ve “repaired” a toilet with a hair rubber band and a paper clip. I once built my own high-definition television antenna out of some old coat hangers and some spare parts. While it did look a lot like some kind of medieval torture device, it worked… Sort of. I made a car cell phone holder out of a large black binder clip. I don’t mind showing that one off.

In all of my tinkering, my aim, though seldom achieved, is to find the simplest solution to the problem ahead of me. Amanda, the wiser of the two of us, is quick to point out that the simplest solution usually costs around $4.99 in one of the bargain bins at TJ Maxx. But, where’s the fun in that? I’d rather spend four hours on any given afternoon and $32.86 in parts purchased at Home Depot than to concede to the power of “the Maxx.”

When I look closely at the Bible, I’m amazed how complicated I can make it. Admittedly, it is full of things that are indeed confusing. However, the biblical authors occasionally — as if they are struck with an acute awareness of their audience — attempt to make clear in the simplest of terms, some of the things onto which we ought to hold dearly. The apostle Paul gives us such a handle in his letter to his young apprentice, Timothy. Signaling to his audience that such an idea is ahead of them, he boils it down: “Here is a trustworthy saying…” Then, he continues, “…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

In our sophisticated and thoroughly post-modern world the idea of Jesus “saving sinners” is a kind of passé notion, abandoned in the dusty fields of the tent revivals of the late 19th century. It almost seems as though we’re more apt to overly complicate this sentiment than to embrace it. The reason Jesus came — the essence of his ministry, his death, and his resurrection was a rescue. It was then, and it is now, the culmination of God’s work to bring people to the fullness of the life they were intended — to pull them from the experience of being stuck and liberate them to a whole, full, and abundant life. The idea of being “saved” is so much more than merely avoiding something undesirable after death. It is about the participation in God’s kingdom kind of life now and forevermore.

It means that old secrets and present shame are addressed with tenderness and compassion, ultimately left behind in the newness of a resurrection-life. It means that oppressed people can be unshackled from their oppressors, their addictions, and their fears. It means that our hard-wired need to find an object worthy of our worship is rightly directed to the one thing worthy of our hearts.

So, as we approach Palm Sunday and next week, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, consider who it is that may need to hear about the simplicity of God’s rescue mission. Are there neighbors who have given up on the church, who are maybe afraid of it (us)? Are there family members who have come to believe that Jesus most likely came to rescue people who didn’t need his help at all? Are there some people who are longing for a pathway out of a life that they can’t seem to find? Invite them to join you. This weekend, Doug Fields will be teaching — aiming our hearts toward Jesus this Easter.

See you soon,

Jeff