The Curse Is Gone

Last night an epic World Series ended with one of the greatest game sevens in the history of sports. The Chicago Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians in the tenth inning, 8–7. The Cubs had not won the World Series in 108 years. The reason for this drought was the Curse of the Billy Goat. A few years ago the Boston Red Sox ended their World Series drought overcoming the Curse of the Bambino (the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees).

As the sun rose this morning we entered into a world where there were no more curses in baseball.

Sure, there are teams that haven’t been to or won the Series in a long time but none of them point to a curse. It’s just that they’ve been bad. The Cubs and Red Sox added to the lore of the game with their longstanding curses.

The curse is gone.

As this reality dawned on me, this verse from the Bible came to mind:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” — so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Humanity was at one time cursed too. Our curse was deeper than goats and bad baseball trades. Our curse was due to our inability to live up to the law of God. We couldn’t perfectly follow it. It became a curse to us. This curse caused a separation between us and God, between us and one another, and between us and the creation.

We could never overcome the curse on our own. It required the help of another. We needed a redeemer. Jesus was that redeemer for us. To redeem us he had to become a curse on our behalf. He bought the Gentiles back from being separated from God and his people.

By ending the curse, Jesus made a way for us to be part of the people of God. The blessing of Abraham, to be God’s people, and the Spirit, are given to us. This is what happened when God destroyed the curse.

We experience this curse being lifted by faith. Faith in the redeemer. A redeemer who became a curse for us.

The Red Sox and Cubs hired a man named Theo Epstein. He built the organizations and made them champions. He broke their curses. To do so required ownership, coaches, and players to have faith in him and his process. They needed someone from the outside to fix them and overcome their curses.

Humanity is the same. We are cursed. We live in rebellion and fail to keep God’s law. We need someone to come in from the outside who knows how to fix us and overcome our curse. Jesus does. Just like the ownership of the Red Sox and Cubs had to trust Theo Epstein, so too do we need to trust Jesus.

What a glorious thing to live life free of the curse. The curse that brought with it shame and guilt. To be freed from shame and guilt is to be freed to have life and have it to the full!

About the Author
Daniel Rose is a husband, dad, and pastor of The Antioch Movement in Ypsilanti, MI. He writes at The Subversive Journey and you can connect with him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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The Curse Is Gone! was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

from The Subversive Journey https://danielmrose.com/the-curse-is-gone-d57a16c01186?source=rss—-bbc765b79ec5—4

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