It's pretty common at this time of year to contemplate the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in terms like "The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." While this is true and that was His mission, set for Him before time began, it really doesn't mean anything to me. The fact is, I can't begin to understand what the sins of the world means. I know what sins are, and it doesn't take a Biblical scholar to know that the world is utterly depraved, and has been since Adam let his wife get tempted, instead of standing in the gap for her. But the scale is too big to get my head around. One death is sad, a whole family dying is a tragedy, but 100 million deaths is just a statistic. (That's the estimated total lives lost in World War II, civilian and military, all countries)

What I can understand is that Jesus Christ was the only sacrifice that could pay for all the sins of all the world, for all time. He is God, and He is the only one with a bank account big enough to write that check. God is also the only one with the right to demand such a payment, for such crimes. King David spoke truly when He said, "Against You have I sinned." He sinned against Uriah and Bathsheba, and Nathan, and the nation of Israel as well, but his true debt was to God.

If this were the only thing to think about on Good Friday, it would just be another religious footnote, like Purim. We would be marking a mighty deed done by God on our behalf, and that would be fine. And hollow. And empty. Because none of us can comprehend the scale.

So lets scale it down to something we can all understand. To quote David again, I must say, "Against You have I sinned." And I have. I have also sinned against my parents, my children, my friends, my employers, my wife, my girlfriend, that guy in the parking lot I don't even know ... And you all have done the same. This is is the nub of the matter: If I were the only person to ever sin, so my debt was the only one that needed to be paid to satisfy God's justice, Jesus Christ, the Son of God would still have humbled Himself to become a human being, and eventually die, broken, to pay my debt. The sacrifice would have been the same, although from our point of view, the debt is smaller. That's because we 'think of sin but lightly.' 

On this Good Friday, contemplate that 'Agnus Dei' not only came to 'qui tollis peccata mundi', but He would have done it for you alone. It's personal with Him. It should be personal with you, too.