The answer to the question posed in the title is one of the mysteries of God that I suppose will never be fully understood. The Isaiah text answers it, yet because we can't really wrap our minds around it we continue to ask. There is a great song by Nichole Nordeman called Why?, here are the words:
We rode into town the other day
Just me and my Daddy
He said I'd finally reached that age
And I could ride next to him on a horse
That of course was not quite as wide
We heard a crowd of people shouting
And so we stopped to find out why
And there was that man
That my dad said he loved
But today there was fear in his eyes
So I said "Daddy, why are they screaming?
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why is He dressed in that bright purple robe?
I'll bet that crown hurts Him more than He shows
Daddy, please can't you do something?
He looks as though He's gonna cry
you said he was stronger than all of those guys
Daddy, please tell me why
Why does everyone want him to die?"
Later that day the sky grew cloudy
And Daddy said I should go inside
Somehow he knew things would get stormy
Boy was he right
But I could not keep from wondering
If there was something he had to hide
So after he left I had to find out
I was not afraid of getting lost
So I followed the crowds
To a hill where I knew men had been killed
And I heard a voice come from the cross
And it said, "Father, why are they screaming?
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why are they casting their lots for My robe?
This crown of thorns hurts Me more than it shows
Father, please can't You do something?
I know that You must hear My cry
I thought I could handle the cross of this size
Father, remind Me why
Why does everyone want Me to die?
When will I understand why?"
"My precious Son, I hear them screaming
I'm watching the face of the enemy beaming
But soon I will clothe You in robes of My own
Jesus, this hurts Me much more than You know
But this dark hour I must do nothing
Though I've heard Your unbearable cry
The power in Your blood destroys all of the lies
Soon You'll see past their unmerciful eyes
Look there below, see the child
Trembling by her father's side
Now I can tell You why
She is why You must die
Even reading those words again gives me goose bumps. (By the way, Kelsey Kukal-Keeton will be singing this song at our Good Friday service at noon. I'm so excited!) Back to the question at hand. So there are Biblical scholars, and songwriters, and Sunday School teachers, and children, and atheists, and agnostics, and a whole lot of others continuing to ask this question. The answer is simple to state and unbelievably difficult to comprehend.
The word "righteous" shows up in twice in our texts today. "The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities." (Isaiah 53:11) And again in Jeremiah, "O LORD of hosts, you test the righteous, you see the heart and the mind..." According to freedictionary.com, righteous is "morally upright, without guilt or sin." That definition definitely describes Jesus. However, to know that Jesus' death makes me righteous, is definitely hard to believe, comprehend, and claim.
To be tested by God, for God to see my heart and mind...that is something that I don't even want to think about. It makes me wonder if God, when he surveys the hearts and minds of the believers like me, finds the question Why the Cross? a good question as well. It would be so easy for God to ask:
What was I thinking? These people are so dense. Why can't they believe that I love them? Why can't they understand that my son died for their sins? Why do they keep carrying their sins around? Why can't they get past their guilt and shame? Why don't they live as forgiven people? Why don't they realize that until they can accept the love that I've given them, they can't share it with others? Son, please tell me why? Why did you have to die?
Fortunately, our all-knowing, all-loving, all-forgiving God understands, can see past our failures, and has a plan. Our God knows the answers. Our God chose the cross.
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