Pastor's Column June 2005

Identity Theft

He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness…
I Peter 2:24

The other day Charlene and I got a call from our credit card company: They had noticed some unusual card activity and were calling to see if these purchases had been made by us: Target stores, Rite Aid in the Bronx, something in Calgary, Canada. The list went on. None were ours.

Identity theft is a huge problem; it happens to a quarter million Americans a year. And it takes a lot of different forms, of which credit card theft is one of the easiest to discover and correct.

In a way, I was flattered. Someone wanted to be me! Someone thought highly enough of my identity, or at least my credit, to take it on themselves. It’s almost an honor.

But of course this person didn’t really want to take on my identity. They didn’t want to be me. What they wanted was for me to take on their debts. And I wasn’t impressed with their debts. Rite Aid? That’s as creative as they could be? And I’ve never been in a Target store in my life.

Anyway, it made me think about substitutionary atonement (yes, really). Substitutionary atonement says that the rotten things we do, the debts we run up against God, need to be paid for. But we are so not worthy of paying the debt. In comes Jesus. And the cross.

Of course, not everyone wants to buy substitutionary atonement. It’s good, classic, Protestant theology, but if you think about it, it‘s a little weird. And what kind of God would send anyone to earth only because he or she makes a good sacrifice? Thank God there are other legitimate ways to understand the crucifixion.

“I have a problem with the cross,” someone said to me on the phone the other day. Well, don’t we all? Paul himself called it “foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to us Jews.” I wouldn’t bother with it myself, if I didn’t feel way down deep that what Jesus did on the cross has a lot to do with me.

That brings me back to identity theft. I suppose if I were really Christ-like, I wouldn’t complain about someone taking my identity. I wouldn’t mind taking on the debts of other people. I would publish my credit card number on the internet, if it’s not there already.

But that’s just what I want Jesus to do for me: I need him to take on my bad stuff; in return I want to take on all his good stuff. I’m not always clear on how atonement happens. But I know I incur debts that Jesus has already paid. And I know that Jesus already calls me by his name.

So, aren’t I guilty of my own sort of identity theft, passing off my debts and trying to make off with Jesus’ identity?

You bet I am! Hope you are too.