By Brother Gary Wheeler
It’s Holy Week. Including the bookend Sundays, these are the most sacred eight days of the year for Christians. Also called Passion Week, it is Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem. It has great heights, devastating lows, and then a history-changing climax. We find here the crux of the Christian faith between the two Sundays. In fact, a little over one-third of the content of the Gospels is dedicated to recording the events of this week.
Today, we conclude our UCAI Lenten series on Romans 5, as we look at verse 19:
Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19, NLT)
There is a non-biblical proverb that says, “One bad apple spoils the barrel.” The original, “A rotten apple quickly infects its neighbor,” was first recorded in 1340. Benjamin Franklin modified the phrase in 1736’s “Poor Richard’s Almanack”: “The rotten apple spoils his companion.” Apparently, 19th-century preachers took their turn, declaring, “As one bad apple spoils the others, so you must show no quarter to sin or sinners.”
The saying has a scientific basis. Not only can mold spread to others, but ripening apples produce ethylene gas, which triggers aging and increases ethylene production in other nearby apples.
Theologically, we know the disobedient “one person” Paul referred to was first Adam (with no mention of Eve). Because of his “original sin,” we all were as tainted as bad apples, both within our own souls, while corrupting others.
But the work of “second” Adam—Christ—flipped the scenario and gave humanity a chance.
Through Christ, all our unrighteousness was exchanged for His righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21 reads:
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)
One human sent us down the pathway towards damnation.
One Son of God offered us the way to eternal life.
All because of Holy Week.
One man… one week… changed everything! All because of obedience.
What can happen if you and I are as obedient to the Father as the Son was?
Humanity won’t be saved, but a human just might.
