The Wonderful Exchange

 

Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God our Father, and our crucified Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Our Good Friday Message is, The Wonderful Exchange, based on 2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him, [Christ], we might become the righteousness of God. 

 

Sometimes, items that are bought on Black Friday can be returned or exchanged all the way until the middle of January. It can be a good deal, but they know that you’ll probably keep it. 

 

My TV bit the dust last Fall, so on Black Friday, I bought a budget TV… and it shows. I was going to exchange it, but ended up keeping it.

 

What kinds of exchanges would you like to make in your life? 

 

What would you keep, and what would you get rid of… or what would you trade?

 

A part of me wishes I could go back and change some of the things I did, and didn’t do, for Jacquie.

 

Would you exchange your regrets for do overs.

 

Would you trade your sorrows for joys… your illnesses and diseases for health and healing?

 

Would you trade all your conflicts and discord for peace and harmony?

 

Sociologists say that post-COVID, more people are lonelier than ever.

 

Would you trade your loneliness for love and companionship?

 

Would you trade your struggles for an easier life… your troubles for blessings…

 

… your shame for vindication, as we talked about last Wednesday night?

 

Would you trade your guilt for grace, and your worry for peace of mind?

 

What wonderful exchanges they would be. 

 

But who could you ever find, who would make those trades with you, taking everything bad, and in return, giving you everything good.

 

I remember some years ago, listening to sports radio in my car, and a New York Knicks fan called in, and he proposed a trade scenario, where the Knicks would get Kevin Love, and in return, the Timberwolves would get a bunch of Knicks role players, some of them vastly overpaid. 

 

The radio host said: And why would the Timberwolves do that? You give us your best player, and in return, we’ll give you all your bad contracts.

 

Who would be foolish enough to do that, to take all your bad, and give you all his or her good?

 

There’s a movie called Free Guy, where a lady agrees to drop her lawsuit against a rich video game mogul, where she likely would have been awarded millions of dollars, just to get back the video game she and her partner had designed and had sold to him. 

 

And the rich guy said, “You’re going to give up millions of dollars? You know this is the dumbest deal in the history of dumb deals.” But she did it for a benevolent reason.

 

From a worldly, self-centered point of view, what Jesus did on the cross, the trade He made, our sin for His righteousness, our punishment for His blessings, it makes no sense. 

Who would do that? And why… take all the bad things, the worst things in our lives, and in exchange, give us the very best of things, the best of life, and the best of blessings? 

 

Who would do that? God would, for you.

 

Jesus knew full well what it would mean for Him to do this for us; He knew the extent of suffering in body, mind and soul, that it would require… 

 

… and still He did it… not because He was foolish or naïve, but because He was wise.

 

Wise, because He knew it would work. He knew His suffering and dying in our place would save us, the only thing that could.

 

But it took more than just knowing that His crucifixion was the way to redeem us, and make things right with God…

 

… He had to love us enough to do it… and have the courage to do it.

 

In the history of humanity, no wiser, no more loving, no more courageous thing has ever been done, than what Jesus did for you on that fateful Friday afternoon, on the other side of the world.

 

For Him, it was a horrible suffering, like we can’t imagine… but for us, a wonderful exchange. 

 

All that my sin deserves, Jesus paid the full price for it on the cross… He was punished for it all, and so now in Him, it’s all forgiven.

 

My sin deserves every horrible thing that has ever happened to me, and has happened to all humanity… my sin deserves it all.

 

But the righteousness that Jesus won for me on the cross, and has been given to me in holy Baptism… it deserves every blessing, every joy, every glory God has to give… 

 

… so great and perfect is the righteousness of Christ for us… it deserves the best, forever!

 

What a marvelous exchange… Jesus has taken all our sin, and given us all His righteousness… and all the glorious blessings that go with it! 

 

It comes down to this: on the cross, for us, Jesus traded Heaven for Hell.

 

He took Hell from us, which our sins rightly deserve, and He gave us Heaven in return.

 

Soon, in our Tenebrae service, we’ll hear again how horribly Jesus suffered. 

 

On the cross, He suffered the full fury of Hell… so that we would never have to. 

 

Because of what He did for us, we’ll never know what Hell feels like.

 

Jesus knows. He went through the agony of it on the cross, but repenting and believing in Him as your Savior, you never will.

 

He took the suffering and shame we deserve, and in return, gave us the glory and joy He deserves. 

 

What a wonderful exchange; how blessed we are because of Him. 

 

May we, with the help of His Spirit, return to our Savior, our full devotion, our grateful praise, our diligent service, our steadfast faithfulness, and our deep and undying love.     

 

And finally, one last exchange to leave you with: 

God exchanges our worry and fear, for the peace He gives, which passes  understanding, and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, who has saved us by a most wonderful, extraordinary exchange. 

 

Thanks be to God! Amen.