For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16, NIV
My son, Chandler, sat baffled in the office of an administrator at his school. I had spoken with the administrator on the phone but then drove up to the school because I was so confused about the situation and why Chandler had been pulled into his office. The administrator told the story to me again. It still did not make any sense to us. The administrator explained that Chandler had not intentionally done anything wrong; he had no malice in his actions, but was the victim of an accident, and “someone had to pay.” The administrator said that “he never looked at the intentions of the students but only the outcome of the action.”
In this case, Chandler had leaned against a water fountain handle while talking with a friend. Unfortunately, the sink contained another kid’s homework that had been placed there as a prank. Chandler jumped away when the water turned on, thought the papers were trash, and kept talking with his friend. When Chandler went back to the sink to clean up the papers, they were gone. He figured someone else cleaned up the mess. But it had been found by the student they belonged to and now he had wet homework to turn in at his next class. Chandler explained what had happened and the student understood it was an accident. But when he tried to turn in wet papers in his next class that became “the outcome that someone had to pay for.”
“It was an accident and I apologized,” Chandler explained.
“I know,” said the administrator, “and the other student is not upset with you nor does he want you to be punished, but someone has to pay.”
I asked the administrator what he knew about Chandler. What did he know about his grades? His character? His reputation with his teachers? His community involvement? Sadly, he did not know Chandler much at all. But even after talking with him about some of those things, his opinion remained the same: someone had to pay. Chandler was crushed.
Later that night, we talked over the situation and about being careful, but Chandler was still dumbfounded at the reality of having been found “not guilty of any wrongdoing” yet sentenced to pay anyway.
The administrator’s insistence that someone had to pay seemed capricious to both my son and me, but it did lead to an even bigger conversation…we talked about how Christ was humiliated and suffered on the cross so we could hear, “Your debt is paid.” It was an impactful lesson for Chandler as he considered the punishment that a completely innocent Christ took for the sin of the whole world. Chandler’s afternoon of humiliation and heartache now seemed like nothing to him after thinking about Jesus. Someone had to pay and Jesus said, “I will.”
Today, my prayer for you is that you would know that your sin debt is paid in full.
Dear Lord, Thank You for paying my debt. May I show mercy to someone today and every day.
Copyright Kathy Branzell.
Kathy has a heart for encouraging Christian educators and currently serves as the President of the National Day of Prayer Task Force. Prior to this role, she was the founder and president of Fellowship and Christian Encouragement (FACE) for Educators.
