Tip of My Iceberg

picture courtesy of Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

Two months ago, I was in a car accident where a large black truck turned into my lane and broadsided me on the passenger side. It was pouring rain, and I was shaken so much that I couldn’t stop the tears. The young man who hit me didn’t speak much English; when I went up to him to get his information, he used Google Translate and told me, “This is all my fault. I take full responsibility.”

I should have taken a picture of that statement.

We’ve been waiting for insurance companies to work out the details. I couldn’t understand what was taking so long, so my husband put in a call to the young man’s insurance company.

It has become a “he says, she says”, situation. As is typical, the policewoman separated us and talked to us separately. I assumed he was explaining what I’d already told her.

I discovered he lied to her, telling her I turned into him. He never got a ticket for the accident.

When I found this out, I was furious. It will cost us at least $500 for our insurance to fix our car, and there is a good chance our insurance will go up. How could someone so blatantly lie, changing his story, and the policewoman believed him? The emotions for that filled the gamut from anger to shame to incredulity.

It isn’t fair.

I wanted to contact the young man and tell him what I thought of his slimy antics.

Not a compassionate or caring response.

My husband loves to remind me that life isn’t fair. It isn’t. Bad things happen to good people; people who do bad things get away with it. We all have a sense of justice that fuels our emotions to respond with fervor to the wrongs done us.

With Easter coming soon, this reflects on why Jesus came to earth in the first place. The Son of God was accustomed to the glories of heaven, leaving it all behind to come to earth to share with us how much God loves us. To

He demonstrated that love by dying in our place to pay the penalty for the mess we’ve made of our lives.

In many ways, Jesus is the ultimate first responder. He doesn’t ask if we’re worthy of being saved; He sees all of us as worth His life so that we might gain life through Him.

For Him to die in our place isn’t fair. He never did anything deserving of the way He was treated, from disrespect, flogging, to being condemned to the most horrific form of the death the Romans could come up with–a long, agonizing death nailed to a cross, struggling to breathe, stripped completely so not only was His physical condition agonizing, but He was shamed before all who passed by and saw Him.

Jesus chose to die in our place, a commitment He knew He had to make good.

For our sake.

Right before the Passover, Jesus was teaching people those closest to Him that He would soon die. It wasn’t something anyone fully understood.

“Jesus replied, ‘Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into His glory….Now My soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came! Father, bring glory to Your name.’” John 12:23, 27-28.

It wasn’t fair that He should pay the price we owe to escape the penalty of living broken lives. But He paid for it. In love.

It wasn’t fair for me to be stuck paying for an accident that wasn’t my fault. It does remind me of the number of times I didn’t get what I deserved.

Maybe this young man needed grace. He will have to deal with what he chose to do.

That’s not up to me.

My mess?

It’s all been paid for in Jesus.