Good Friday (April 2, 2021)

Isaiah 55:6-11

Our Fault Insurance

In many states people have no-fault car insurance so whether it is your fault or the other person’s fault you have coverage to get your car repaired. While you can get no-fault coverage for your car you probably will have a hard time getting that coverage on a life insurance policy. There are always questions to be asked about your personal habits and whether they increase your risk of dying. If you can get coverage you will probably have very high premiums if you are a test pilot, and astronaut, race car driver or similar jobs or hobbies. The insurance company is likely to tell your family, “I’m sorry, but the cause of death voids the policy and there will be no payment.” Coverage for your faults comes at a high price.

The high price paid for coverage is what Good Friday is all about. The good news is that everyone can be covered. The prophet Isaiah goes after this idea in our opening reading for tonight. Throughout his writings, Isaiah is calling the people to repent of their sins. He calls the wicked person to forsake his ways and the one who is unrighteous in his thoughts change and to return to the Lord. The returning to the Lord isn’t done by undoing the damage that was done because that is beyond us. Just as you can’t fix a car that has been totaled with your bare hands neither can you fix your totaled out life. Sin is destructive, much like a wreck or perhaps even worse, rust. 

While a wreck is pretty obvious to see, rust very often is eating away the metal from behind the paint. The wicked man’s issues may be obvious to many people because the things he does go against the appropriate standard for behavior, though this becomes very cloudy when society starts to accept inappropriate behaviors and call them normal, much like what is happening today. To be fair, however, there have always been thing done that were accepted by society but which God condemns. This is some of the rust that seems to eat away at us to change us from one who truly fears the Lord and walks in his ways. Our thoughts become unrighteous and then are actions are likely to follow.

Once we have done them we cannot take them back. God has seen them and we stand condemned, which is bad news for us. This is where Isaiah speaks of hope. He called the people to repent and return to the Lord for he will pardon you over and over again, which would be what “abundantly pardon” is telling us. 

The sinful wreck which is our human existence can be restored to new condition but it came at a great price. Jesus became the world’s our-fault insurance coverage. He suffered all our sinful wrecks, committed against each other and against God and took them to the cross. He was beaten, bloodied, and nailed to a cross to die; in a sense he was totaled out. He was crushed beyond recognition and died in order to give us a new beginning, a new life, with him.

Killing someone else doesn’t seem like a logical solution to fixing the wreck that is costing us our lives but Isaiah also said that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and our ways are not God’s ways. If a car wreck is your fault you will be paying for it through your insurance premiums, the repairs are not free. You can’t pay the price for your sins, however, as it requires someone else to pay the price for you. The price Jesus paid he paid gladly so that you could be saved and if he had to he would do it again as this is the unending nature of God’s love for you. The Good News is Jesus only had to die once to save us all and admitting and repenting of our sins is what we are asked to do. Turning back to the Lord once again in faith gives us life-assurance. We are covered by the shed blood of our Savior Jesus Christ, who loves us just like the Father who sent him.

Hold onto your coverage for your premium had been paid and it lasts for a lifetime. Don’t forget what it cost and who paid the price and give thanks to God for the Good News that that Friday has us covered. Amen.