One of my favorite movies is A Knight’s Tale with Heath Ledger.

There’s a line that’s repeated a couple of times:

“You have been weighed. You have been measured. And you have been found wanting.”

Romans 3:23 gives us a similar message.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Paul was talking to the Jews and the Gentiles here, but it still applies to all of us today. Sin started with Adam and Eve and has spread like an unstoppable virus ever since. There is only one person in all of history that was immune to it. The one who became our scapegoat.

I won’t go into the origins of the word “scapegoat” for all of you with an intense heart for animals, like myself. All I’ll say is it involves an actual goat, and it correlates to what Jesus did for you.

He paid for our sins in the most excruciating way the Romans could think up…and we get credit for it because God loves us that much. He sent His one and only Son, God in human form with human emotions. Because Jesus was God, He loves you too. In fact, He loves you so much that He willingly carried the cross that was meant for you (for all of us), was nailed to it by His wrists and feet, and died a slow, painful death.

For you.

He could have become a very successful fugitive. He had enough followers that would’ve helped Him escape. But He faced His death head on for the world’s sake as the ones He loved shouted “Crucify Him!”

For what? What crime did He commit? Healing the sick? Teaching people to love one another? Telling everyone the way to His Father’s kingdom, a place with no pain? Telling everyone to spread the word so that they, too, may enter the kingdom of Heaven?

Not only was He found guilty of these “crimes”, He was hated and mocked for it.

He is still hated and mocked. You don’t have to look any further than the entertainment industry.

The 2023 Grammy’s not only mocked Jesus but glorified Satan. Literally. Madonna’s Vanity Fair magazine issue where she portrays Jesus in the most unspeakable ways has been labeled as “stunning.”

Jesus died for them, too. No one is too dirty to go to the cross, look upon it in faith and repentance, and be saved.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Personally, when I think of what Jesus endured for sinner like me, it makes it easier to live each day for Him. It makes it easier to want to live a life that is pleasing to God.

But that’s the Christian struggle. As much as we try to avoid it, we will live a sinful life. We will always fall short.

The good news? Those who turn their eyes upon Jesus will one day live a life where sin in non-existent.

And that’s the Christian hope.