For
we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of
sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves
to sin …"
Romans
6:6
Most people think of Christmas as the time for gifts, but Good Friday is the time when we received the best gift of all, a crucified Christ. I know that doesn't sound like a very pleasant gift, but some gifts that aren't pretty at all, we love the most.
In his book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,
Robert Fulghum has a name for these ugly gifts: “gummy lumps"
He uses this term to describe a shoe box that he keeps on the top
shelf of his closet that was decorated and given to him by one of his
children.
Anyhow, this shoe box isn't looking too good now. It's a little
shriveled and kind of moldy where the jelly beans and gumdrops have
run together. It's still sticky in places, and most of it is more
beige than red and white. If you lift the lid, however, you will
begin to know what makes him keep it.
On folded and faded and fragile pieces of large-lined school paper,
there are words: “Hi daddi” and “Hoppy valimtime” and “I
lov you. A whole big lot of I lov you." Once in a while he
takes it down from the shelf and open it. It is something he can
touch and hold and believe in, especially when love gets difficult
and there are no small arms around his neck anymore."
Isn't a crucified Christ, who died for each one of us, the ultimate
“gummy lump?" This “gummy lump" isn't a pretty sight,
it is messy and broken, yet it says “A whole big lot of I lov you."
Every Lent we need to take this “gummy lump" out of our closet
and remember that Christ's death for our sins means we are dead to
sin and free to live a new life with Him. What a gift!
Lord Jesus,
thank you for your gift, and help us to remember that each day we are
free to live a new life with you. Amen.
Mary Fry Walters (1994)
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