He Became Sin

“He became sin who knew no sin that we might become His righteousness, he humbled himself and carried the cross, love so amazing. Jesus Messiah, name above all name, Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel. The rescue for sinners, the ransom from heaven, Jesus Messiah, Lord of all.” ~ Lyrics to Jesus Messiah by Christ Tomlin

I remember the first time I heard this song I thought, why would he say that? Jesus never sinned. He came to put and end to the separation of man from God that was the result of sin. We hear in scripture that Jesus was like us in all ways but sin. When I asked a priest about this he told me that these words were from scripture. “For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) This was an eye-opener for me. But as I reflected on it, it made perfect sense. So this past weekend, someone was speaking about prayer at RCIA and she mentioned several times that God can’t be where sin is. I kept wanting to raise my hand and say that isn't true and the scripture from second Corinthians kept coming to mind.

The reason there is any hope for us is because God is willing to enter into our sin. When I am sinning, I chose my sin over God. My selfishness takes precedence over my Lord and Savior. But God is always there. We are reminded over and over throughout scripture that God is always there, he will never leave us no matter what we do. God is in our darkest moments which are often the result of sin, ours or someone else’s. If God isn’t present in the midst of our sin, how are we to ever get out of it? We can’t do it on our own. One of the reasons we often get stuck in our sin is because we think we can do it on our own. We don’t want God to see the ugliness in our heart so we try to be good; we try to straighten up our act before presenting ourselves to God. But when we do this, we’ve got it all wrong. We have to humble ourselves before God, we need to lay it all at His feet; all of us, especially the sinful, selfish, prideful part of us. The other scripture that kept coming to mind when she was talking was, “Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more.” (Romans 5:20)God’s grace is sufficient for all things, especially when we are caught up in the desires of our flesh instead of living as faithful men and women. God hears our cries and he is always faithful.