Easter and Mel Gibson's "Blood Father"

The last scene of “Blood Father”, with Mel Gibson, is profound.  Throughout the movie, a recovering ex-convict does everything in his power to show his daughter that her life is valuable and worth living with that in mind.  This culminates with the ultimate sacrifice.  In the last scene, the daughter makes a stunning admission.  ““. . . when you owe your life to someone, you better live it... So I just say, “Thank you."”

Similarly, Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of England, was overwhelmed with gratitude to the National Health System for “saving his life” after being hospitalized for coronavirus. 

Easter marks a special occasion.  Jesus Christ, being God, gave His life as a man so that we could have eternal life with Him if – believing He is God and that He rose from the dead – we repent of our sins, ask for His forgiveness, and make Him Lord of our lives.  Or as it says in John 3:16-18,

For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through Him.  He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

Ephesians 2:4-10 puts this in terms of mercy and faith:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should both.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 

In the case of “Blood Father” and with the Prime Minister, the impact on the affected lives was/is tangible and immediate.  How do we demonstrate that same gratitude for something less tangible but powerful?  When we accept what Jesus, being God and man, did in our place, for the forgiveness of our sins, some things happen immediately:

• Our past, present and future sins are forgiven -- our sinful condition.  
• We become reconciled with God and active relationship with God starts.  This relationship continues throughout eternity when we die.  
• God Himself comes to live inside of us to empower us when we rely on Him. 
• God starts changing us into His likeness (His character). 
• We come to life on the inside and that abundant life grows in us throughout our lives if we let it and seek it.  
• We receive the promise of eternal life.  This propels us when all else is falling down around us and it is a source of joy, hope and peace no matter what we are experiencing.  Because Jesus rose from the dead, we too will rise again to be with God in Heaven if Jesus does not come back before we die.  This is called the "living hope" -- and it provides perspective and permeates everything we do if we focus on it.  
• We have His peace that floods our lives immediately and thenceforward when we cast our anxieties on Him with supplication and thanksgiving.  
• He makes His wisdom, grace and mercy available to us when we ask for it (and even when we don't).  His lovingkindness is everlasting and active in the moment!  
• We accept His love as we are.  His love for us is not dependent on what we do or how good we are.  We are adopted into His spiritual family with the promise of inheritance as His spiritually adopted children in eternal life.  
• God's Word, the Bible, starts to make sense to us and God reveals Himself to us through His Word.  It guides us.  
• We immediately become part of a community of people who experience these same things, through which we also experience the love of God.  This is called the "fellowship of the saints". 

For someone like me who grew up in the church and, as a kid, accepted what Jesus Christ did in my place for the forgiveness of my sins and the promise of eternal life – what is colloquially called “accepting Christ” or “being saved” or “receiving Christ” or being “born again”, my salvation experience was not one of turning from a life of despair and desolation that you hear of sometimes.  I was too young to have made a mess of my life.  But that doesn’t mean I hadn’t sinned and that I didn’t need forgiveness from God. 

I remember the first time I consciously recognized that what I wanted to do was wrong and did it anyway.  That night, my dad told me about Heaven and Hell, the consequences of my sin and my need for Jesus to forgive my sins and be Lord of my life.  I didn’t want to go to Hell. I wanted to go the Heaven.  When I made the conscious decision to seek forgiveness from God for my sins, accept what He did on the cross in my place, and surrender my life to Christ, a deep peace instantly came flooding over my soul and I knew that what my dad had described was true: I now had relationship with God, my sins were forgiven, and I would be in heaven one day – not because of anything I had done, but because I had accepted what Jesus had done in my place. 

And this “salvation” is available to you.   

The Bible describes this in terms of a legal transaction: God placing your sins on Jesus (assigning your guilt to Him) and God applying Jesus’ righteousness to you (assigning His righteousness to you).  “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  And why is this necessary?  Because one sin separates us spiritually from God: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.  And because “There is none righteous, not even one.” 

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” – if we would only accept that gift. 

Being a good person is not good enough.  We need something more.  Only Jesus lived a perfect life, without sin.  And He chose to pay the price for our sin so we could have His righteousness in place of our own lack thereof.  If He had not risen from the dead, He’d have been just another human beset with the human condition: we all die.  If death is a result of sin, His rising from the dead defeated the consequences of sin.  So this goes beyond mere religion.  This is bona fide relationship with a living Savior and because He rose again, and we have His righteousness in place of our sin, we too shall rise again someday.  Life has meaning beyond the grave!  Also, the life of Christ is given to us internally the moment we receive Him.  And this transforms us. 

While for me, becoming a Christian, did not entail a 180 degree turn around from a life demonstrably on the road to perdition (we are all on that road until receiving Christ – “For all have sinned . . .” and “There is none righteous, not even one” – we need the righteousness of Christ in our place), the results are the same.  As Romans 5:5-11, states,

. . . and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.  For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. 

I can also look back on life and see how the same things available to me at salvation have been available to me throughout life, in relationship with God, no matter what I have done.  And my appreciation for it has only grown because I am also guilty of much more than I was as a kid when I received Christ.  My need for God’s grace – and my consciousness of it -- has only increased, and this will continue till the day I die.  I do not deserve it. 

Do you?  It is tempting to compare ourselves to others and to list the good things we do, but before a holy God?  No, we don’t deserve it. 

Will you accept what Jesus did for you on the cross, for the forgiveness of your sins, and surrender your life to Christ?  And because being God and rose again, receive the promise of eternal life? 

Your choice!  He respects your free will!  Be reconciled to God! 

When you do, the love of God is poured out in your heart and gratitude compels you.  Circling back to “Blood Father”, “. . . when you owe your life to someone, you better live it... So I just say, “Thank you."”

Or as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:14-19,

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.  Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.  Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 

And as it says in II Corinthians, 5:20-21, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Happy Easter everybody! 

He is Risen! 

He is Risen indeed! 

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