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Good Friday and Purim (Part 3)

© John L. Hoh, Jr.

So why should a Christian care about Purim? Well, Jesus celebrated Purim. But beyond that, there are parallels between the fate of the Jews and our fate in the hands of Satan. We were all destined to eternal destruction. Someone had to intervene on our behalf. Our enemy gleefully thought he had us in a spot we couldn't get out of.

But God intervened. In Esther's time it was through a dream to Xerxes. On Good Friday, he personally came down and took our sin upon himself and died our death on a cross, a death that plunged him in the darkness of sin and separation from God.

Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani!

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

These words were uttered by King David 1000 years before Jesus spoke them on the cross. They may have formed the prayer of the Jews facing the cruel intentions of Haman and Xerxes. These words might be spoken today as people feel a loss or as we watch the news of Terry Shiavo in the news and ask, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken her?"

Lots were cast to determine a day of execution. At the foot of Jesus' execution cross, lots were cast for his clothing. Our "lot" in life was destined to be a sinful existence and an eternal agony apart from God and in Satan's grasp.

But Jesus cast his lot with humanity to give us a better lot through his sacrifice. He took on our sin, as Saint Paul writes, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that we might have the righteousness of God."

Thus I find the ironic pairing this year of Purim and Good Friday and the events they memorialize. And on Easter we celebrate anew the victory of Christ over our enemies, a victory made possible by his sacrifice which negated the decree of God that we all be condemned for our sins.

You see, God's Law is also irrevocable. God demands perfection. But we cannot be perfect because we are sinful from conception and birth. Hence God's Gospel negates God's Law. The Gospel proclaims that Jesus kept God's holy will perfectly on our behalf and died to pay the penalty for our sins. Our Purim, as it were, is the celebration each Sunday of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, a resurrection that proclaims we all shall one day rise from the dead. We will not die, but live!