Jesus is the only hope for our world. Why? Because there’s nobody else like Him. He is the only son of God. His was a miraculous birth. Jesus was born to a virgin. He never sinned. He lived a flawless life, and because of that He’s the only one qualified as the perfect, pure spotless, payment for sin. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. That cannot be said of anyone else, ever.
He’s also the lion of the tribe of Judah. He rules over the universe with love, justice and truth. There’s no one higher than Jesus. No one greater than Jesus. He’s the creator in the human body. He’s the suffering servant, and He’s also the triumphant soon-coming King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus is the hope of the world.
No one else comes even close to His unique magnificence. Everyone fails, everyone. Not Jesus. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He’s constant. He’s unchanging. He heals the sick, He comforts the brokenhearted. He forgives the sinner and He gives hope to the hopeless. No one else can do this. Only Jesus can give us that hope.
Even though He was pure and perfect, even though He performed amazing signs, miracles and wonders, even raising the dead. Even though He taught with an equal divine authority, He was still despised and rejected and scorned. Do you know why? Because He stood for all that which was against their lifestyle. He stood in the way of their greed, their lust and their corruption. So, they accused Him falsely. They condemned Him wrongly. They crucified Him on the cross, and they buried Him in a new tomb to get rid of Him once and for all. But you can’t get rid of Jesus. They killed Him on Friday, He rose from the dead on Sunday.
He annihilated the power of Satan. He defeated our greatest enemy, death, making a way for all of us to come back to God and have eternal life. Jesus did this for us. The Bible says, ‘He that knew no sin became sin for us, so that we could become the righteousness of God.’ Jesus paid the penalty for our sin, for our rebellion against God.
Jesus today invites anyone, anywhere to find freedom from guilt, freedom from the penalty of our sin. The Bible says, ‘But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.’ The Bible says, ‘there’s no other name given among men whereby we must be saved only the name of Jesus.’ Only Jesus is the hope of the world, through the power of His Holy life, and by the power of His resurrection from the dead, Jesus forgives us. He transforms us from sinners into saints, from enemies of God to members of the household and Family of God. Only Jesus can do this.
A look at one Roman soldier, Marcellus
The Watoto Church downtown building was initially a movie theater. And the very first movie that was premiered there was called The Robe. It’s the story of Marcellus, a Roman military tribune, who was sent as a punishment from Rome to the hardship post of Palestine.
He entered Jerusalem for the first time on the very day of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey. And as Jesus passed by the Roman soldier, their eyes locked, and something sparked inside Marcellus’ heart.
Marcellus was assigned the role of commanding the unit that was responsible for crucifying Jesus. And at the foot of the cross, in a game of dice, Marcellus won Jesus’ robe. As he watched and participated in the death of Jesus, he was moved because there was something unique, something different, something special about Jesus and the way that He died. Marcellus was overcome by a sudden sense of grief and guilt in nailing Jesus to the cross.
He was then given the responsibility of rounding up the followers of Jesus. But as he watched their lives and heard their stories, his life was thrown into turmoil. He was caught between loyalty to brutal Rome and this strange but powerful pool in his heart to Jesus.
Paulus, another Roman centurion was sent to collect the Christians that Marcellus was supposed to round up, but he found him [Marcellus] defending them. They ended up in a sword fight which Marcellus won. And as he was about to kill Paulus, he stopped because something had happened inside him. He threw down the sword. In the watching crowd, was a man called Simon Peter. He invited Marcellus into Christian faith, but out of anguish and guilt, Marcellus refused. He said, ‘I can’t do that Jesus would never forgive me. I nailed Him to the cross.’ Peter told Marcellus about how three times he denied Jesus, and from the cross Jesus forgave him. Broken, Marcellus finally surrendered and pledged his life to Jesus.
He was sent back to Rome, where he was condemned to die for being a follower of Jesus. The last movie scene revealed Marcellus going into heaven because of what Jesus did in his heart. That is how it must be for all of us. There is a tug in our hearts between the world that we know and full surrender to Jesus, like Marcellus, we must each recognize our part in the death of Jesus.
It Was My Sin that Held Him There
It wasn’t Marcellus who nailed Jesus to the cross. It was my sin that nailed Jesus to the cross. I deserve to die, but Jesus died in my place and when I accept that, and humbly turn to Him, He forgives. And like Marcellus, he changes me. That is what the Christmas story is really about. We do more than just experienced personal change. That’s just the beginning.
We must welcome Jesus back into the center of our culture, society, city and nation. When we put Jesus not only at the center of our lives, but at the core of our nation and our culture, then we don’t just have individual hope, We have national hope.
All the things that society needs to be whole, healthy, secure and prosperous, are found only in Jesus. Jesus is love, that’s what our city needs. Jesus is holy, that’s what our city needs. Jesus is kind, faithful, good, generous, patient, forgiving, grace-filled and considerate of others. It’s those things that need to drive out the greed, anger, pride, bitterness, revenge, jealousy, corruption and the sin that characterize what our city is.
No political party or leader can do this. No religious leader or denomination can do this. No economic system will heal the brokenness of our hearts in our society. Only Jesus, whose birth we celebrate, can do this. Only Jesus is my hope, your hope, our hope, the hope of Kampala, the hope of Uganda, the hope of the world.
Let’s not just sing about it, let us individually and collectively, as Ugandans surrender our lives and our nation to the sovereignty of this wonderful Jesus.
