Day 24: Wicked
I really enjoy theatre and the arts. My favorite musical to go see is Winnie Holzman’s “Wicked”. The show is set as a prequel to the Wizard of Oz. It tells the story of how the wicked witch of the west became that very thing, wicked. The story offers a subtle yet brilliant critique of our society’s foolishness about relativism and what it means to be good versus wicked. The opening scenes of the show quickly ask the question, “Are people born wicked or is wickedness thrust upon them?”
In the midst so many voices on what it means to be good or wicked, Jesus goes further than any religion and worldview. He says that evil and wickedness are not just out there. It’s not just the murderers or racists or liars who are wicked. Jesus teaches that there is wickedness in you and in me. Maybe we aren’t as good as we’d like to be; maybe left to our own vices we are wicked.
Read Romans 3:23-26
Are people wicked or is wickedness thrust upon them?
The good news is that, while we are born depraved and wicked, Christ died so that His righteousness could be imputed and thrust upon us. If that is true it changes everything. To quote Timothy Keller, “The gospel is this: we are more sinful, wicked, and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” We do not have to be afraid of or hide the wickedness in us. Rather when we expose it, we acknowledge that we need saving and a Savior.
By Pastor Christian Dawson