The promise of being made right in Jesus

Some things in life you just never forget, even when it was 45 years ago. It was my junior year on the Ashland High School track team.

In a typical track meet, I’d compete in several events. So, the truth of the matter was often you were so busy competing in your own specialties you didn’t always have time to see your teammates competing. However, one day, one of my teammates did something truly amazing. His name was Tom Fowler. He was a senior in 1978, competing in the high jump.

To put it simply, Tom got on a roll. They kept raising the bar and he kept clearing it. As a result, the whole team heard what was going on and came over to the high jump pit to cheer him on. He finally finished his incredible day by setting a new school record at the height of 6 feet, 9 inches. Folks, no one has come any closer than a whopping 7 feet to Tom’s incredible feat at AHS. Wow!

A sport in which the winner has to fail

You know, when you stop to think about it, the high jump is one of track and field’s most unique events. Why? Because the high jump is one of the few events where even the winner finishes in failure. How so? Well, right after the jumper clears one height, the bar is raised and raised again until the jumper can no longer clear the height. For instance, the world high jump record is 2.45 meters (8 feet, 1/2 inch) set by Cuba's Javier Sotomayor in 1993. And yet, he eventually failed, too.

One of the adjectives we use from the world of track and field is the word “beamonesque.”That adjective came into existence as a result of what US long jumper Bob Beamon did back in the '68 Mexico City Summer Olympics when he jumped 29.2 feet. Understand, folks, the world record for the long jump before Beamon was almost 2 feet less (27 feet 4 ¾ inches) than his record. So, the adjective “beamonesque”has come to mean, “an athletic feat so superior to what came before, that it’s overwhelming.”

Apparently, such was the case not only for Tom Fowler, but for Sotomayor also. I mean, it’s been 30 years now, and despite all our biological and training advances, his record still stands. It’s the standard by which all other jumps are measured. In short, if a jump doesn’t meet or exceed that height, it falls short of being the best high jump.

'All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God'

Folks, in Jesus’ day, a Jewish religious sect called the Pharisees were universally respected for their righteous attention to the laws of God. They were, in a sense, “world record holders at law keeping.” Yep, their righteousness had become the standard by which all others were judged. And yet, the righteousness of the Pharisees still wasn’t good enough to save them. Oh yes, they might have been close to perfection, but close doesn’t count in horseshoes, the high jump or getting to heaven.

Perhaps that’s why a man who was once a great Pharisee himself (Saul), but gave all that up for “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ” (Paul), once said in his letter to the Roman Church: “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God displayed publicly as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of His blood received by faith.” (Rom. 3: 23-25)

Friends, isn’t this what we in no small part, celebrate in this Easter season? That we are justified or “made right” by faith in a perfect man who died as our substitute and then rose again from the grave? Yes, all our efforts at clearing the bar of good works so as to somehow earn our own salvation in the presence of a perfect and holy God all fall short of His righteous standard.

We can never jump high enough or long enough or be perfect enough to enter heaven on our own. No, neither Tom Fowler, or Javier Sotomayor or even Bob Beamon could match the unsurpassable standard that Jesus provided by becoming the perfect sacrifice for our sins. As a result, it is only by faith in this Jesus and His free gift of grace that you and I can ultimately finish as eternal winners.

Yeh, some things you never forget, like the day I saw Tom jump 6 feet, 9 inches. But, even more, is the day I came to a saving knowledge in Jesus Christ. That’s a day I’ll never forget. I pray for this same “beamonesque” like miracle of grace for each of you this Easter season also.

Jeff Messner is the pastor at Ashland Dickey Church in Ashland.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: 'Made right' by faith in perfect man who died and rose again