Jesus Moved Toward Us

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Jesus did not stand at a safe distance waiting for sinners to find their way to him. He moved toward us.

Throughout his life, Jesus moved toward outsiders, touched the unclean, welcomed people with scandalous histories, and became known as the friend of sinners. But every one of those moments pointed toward the greater movement of the gospel: the eternal Son took on flesh, entered our broken world, and went all the way to the cross for us.

He did not come because we were improving. Paul says Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Before repentance had borne fruit, before obedience had taken shape, before we had anything to offer him, Christ gave himself for us.

The welcome of Jesus is free to us because it was unimaginably costly to him. At the cross, he bore our sin, endured our judgment, and removed the condemnation that stood between God and us.

We do not have to read God’s posture toward us from our circumstances, our emotions, or how well we performed this week. We read it at Calvary.

There the holiness of God and the love of God meet without compromise. Sin is not ignored; it is judged. Sinners are not cast away; they are received through the sacrifice of Christ.

The arms of Jesus were stretched open in judgment for our sin so that they could remain open in welcome to us.