Cathedral Chimes March 2025

“… Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan …” Mark1:9, 12 & 13.

Dearly Beloved,

Greetings in the name of Christ Jesus!

Let us praise God for blessing us with another Lenten 'season' which our Bishop describes as 'a journey led by the Holy Spirit'. May the Lord bless this month as a month of growth in our spiritual life. Let us make it possible by praying, and studying the word of God diligently and scripture related books.

First of all, let us repent and renew our faith by meditating on what Jesus had done on the cross for us! The powerful proclamation, “Jesus died on the cross for our sins” has changed people' life all over the world and effected continuous proliferation of believers!

This is a puzzling question. Let me explain it: just think of your joy when someone takes you to a garment shop and says, “Take whatever you want. I will pay the bill!” Or think of someone taking you to a 5-star hotel and encouraging you to have whatever you want saying, “I will pay for them all.” But, the truth that 'Jesus paid for our sins' is far more valuable and precious than food and clothing.

The early church struggled with this question and had come up with many imageries to understand the process of “How does Jesus' death effect our salvation? 'Jesus died for our sins' is a simple way of explaining the theory of Substitution i.e. Jesus did or endured something on our behalf! He paid what we had to pay; he did what we have to do; he endured what we have to endure. This is basically because of our inability to pay the cost of our sins or to bear the punishment and survive. The power of sin and the force of darkness are too much and too powerful for us to overcome. So, Jesus came and paid the price on our behalf. He fought the battle on our behalf and gave us what we cannot obtain with our efforts.

The early church explained the process of appropriating God's salvation through Jesus Christ in our personal lives using the following Four Imageries captured in four classical words: (Rev. Dr. John Stott explains this in his book, 'The Cross of Christ'). The words are: Propitiation, Redemption, Reconciliation, and Justification.
a) PROPICIATION : This word is used in 1 John 2:2; 4:10 & Rm. 3:25. The word, 'propitiation' means, 'doing something to take away the anger of someone' e.g. when someone is angry, you bring a large bunch of roses or something with a 'propitiating' smile. Thus, the other word for propitiation is 'appeasement'. This imagery is used in the Jewish religious context. The logic is this: God is holy. As we are created in his image, he wants his people to be holy (Lev. 19:2). God placed before the Jews blessing and punishment to reiterate their special calling to perform righteous acts. Whenever people sinned, they were made 4 to offer sin offerings (Lv.4) or guilt offerings that made them see the sufferings and death of the sacrificed animals or birds (Lv. 5:15) for their sins. By their sacrifice, they appeased the Lord so that the anger of God would be taken away from them. In the same way, the Son of God took our place, sacrificed his life, and appeased God the Father so that God's wrath may not fall on us. You may also read Lev. 16:7-10, 15, to know how on the Annual Atonement Day two goats were selected and one slaughtered and its blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat (Heb. 9:5; 10:10, 14). And how on the other goat's head (called scapegoat), all people's sins were placed and this goat was let out in the wilderness. This goat would wander and be devoured by the wild beasts. In the same way, Jesus appeased God's anger by dying on the cross for our sake, taking all our sins upon himself.
b) REDEMPTION : This word is found in Rm. 3:24; Gal. 3:13 & Col. 1:13-14. The word 'redemption' is very much used in the commercial context. When a property was mortgaged or a boy or girl was sold as a slave and the family was unable to pay and redeem the property or the sold-out person, someone else could pay and redeem the property or the person. Or suppose there was none to do it, in the Jubilee year (Lev. 25) th celebrated on every 50 year, the mortgaged property should be handed over to the original family or the slave had to be sent back to his/her family without any payment. In our context, we may think of our redemption from the domain of darkness, from the curse of the law, from the captivity of the Evil One, through the payment made by Jesus. We are God's property but we were under the captivity of sin and Satan. But, Jesus paid the ransom i.e. his life (Mk. 10:45) and blood (1 Pet. 1:18-19). But, one can ask, 'Was the payment made to Satan?' No. Though he indeed gave his life as a ransom, it was not given to Satan. When Satan thought he had Jesus' life in his hands, 'Boom'… it was not there in his hands! Because Jesus had the authority to give his life and take it back (Jn. 10: 18). Indeed, he gave his life but took it back! Or, let me put it in this way: think of the redemption given during the Jubilee year. There, the mortgage was canceled and the slave returned without paying anything, i.e. 'restoring what is taken or snatched away from the owner' was given back free of cost by the decree of God. In the same way, our captivity was canceled by Jesus because he conquered Satan and the power of sin. We are free now by the decree of God.
c) RECONCILIATION : This word is found in Col. 1:19-22 and 2 Cor. 5:18, 19. This word is used in family context. Especially, when family relationships are broken, a mediator may bring the two or three parties to come, reconcile, and renew their relationships.
In Rm. 1:18-32, St. Paul explains how the relationship between Man and God was broken by the evil acts of people and how enmity prevailed between them. From the human side, people hated God for not allowing them to do whatever sinful things they liked to do, and from the side of God, God was displeased with the wicked and his wrath was on those who sinned. But, Jesus came as a mediator, paid the peace-offering through his blood on the cross and reconciled God and Man. Because of that, at present, we enjoy 'parent–son/daughter relationship' with God, have the privilege of calling God “Abba, Father”, and remain in this family relationship forever. Read also Jn. 1:12 and Rm. 8.5
d) JUSTIFICATION : This word is found in Rm. 4:25; 5:16, 18 & 8:29-30. This word is used in the legal context. The word means, 'saying someone is right or fair'. But, it should not be interpreted as “justifying the evil or wicked things done!” i.e., saying, “Oh, he/she has a good reason for committing that sin and so, what he did is not at all wrong”, or saying, “It is not a sin at all!” It should be understood in the following way: suppose someone commits a wrongdoing and gets arrested. He/she would be tried in the legal court and judgment would be passed. But, when someone else takes the punishment either by paying the penalty, submitting himself to be imprisoned, or taking the death sentence upon himself, the one who was found guilty would be freed from undergoing the punishment. He leaves the legal court as a free person. It does not mean that the person did not commit sin nor that he is 'not guilty' nor say: “What you have done is not at all a crime!” But, one is freed from the punishment because someone else has paid the cost or the price on his/her behalf (Is. 53:4, 5).

God bless you all.

Yours in Christ,
T. Devaputhiran
Pastor