I hate the sacrifice bunt. Hate it. Bunting for a base hit is a different story, but the sacrifice? No, thanks. I’m not interested in giving up an out just for an extra base, just to move a runner up one spot, with no guarantee that the guy behind the sacrificer will get the necessary hit to drive him in.
Yet, most people love the sacrifice bunt. There’s something, we believe, inherently noble about it. One guy gives himself up for the team, doing what he’s been asked to do, willingly laying down his turn at bat for the greater good.
In my mind, however, I can’t get past the illogical nature of it. Don’t give away an out! Don’t you realize the run expectancy is higher with no outs and a runner at first than with one out and a runner at second?
So, I hate the sacrifice bunt because it just doesn’t make any sense.
But, I’m a total hypocrite. Because the sacrifice that saved my life makes no sense.
It makes no sense for Jesus to have left heaven, but he did.
It makes no sense for God the Father to punish the Son for my sin, but he did.
It makes no sense for Jesus to WILLINGLY (no one forced him) to go to the cross, but he did.
It makes no sense that the death of the sinless Son of God is somehow enough (all by itself) to forgive all my sin, but it is.
It makes no sense that Jesus would, while hanging on the cross, call on the Father to forgive those who put him there, but he did.
It makes no sense that someone like me, sinful from birth, would be given new life, made a saint before God, but I have.
It makes no sense that God could raise someone from the dead, but he did.
It makes no sense that Jesus would offer grace and mercy and eternal life to this sinful world, but he does.
It makes no sense. It’s foolishness, right? Absolutely. And it’s the foolishness of the cross that God chose to shame and confound those who believe they have it all together. It’s the foolishness of the cross that God chose as his instrument of divine justice and grace. It’s the foolishness of the cross that settles the issue of what I deserve (that cross) and what I receive (a sacrificial substitute).
Jesus, the best and greatest of us all, God in human flesh, the guy for whom it makes no sense to lay down a sacrifice, did so. Today, I’m praising God for what I can’t even understand–“He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God…”
Forgiven from the penalty of my sin. Free from the power of my sin. All because of a seemingly foolish sacrifice. Only when I recognize my own inborn sinful nature does it begin to sink in (there was no other way for me to be made right with God…someone had to do it for me). Only when I believe it does it finally make sense.
I’ll never understand the sacrifice bunt, but I’m forever grateful for the sacrifice of Jesus.
