Mediator

His name was Don, he was the uncle of a good friend of mine and he saved me from a very hostile encounter with five words, "I know him, he's cool."

It was a summer night in 1971.  I was turning left into the parking lot of Pizza Inn using a hand signal as my left turn indicator light in my 1966 Chevy pick-up had gone out.  Another pick-up full of beer-drinking rednecks (not unlike myself at the time) slammed on the brakes, swerved hard to the right, barely avoiding a rear-end collision and the aftermath which might have ended with me as a statistic as the driver assured, "If I had hit you and survived, you wouldn't have."

He was angry, they came back around to deal with me, thinking I had made a turn without signaling and nearly causing a wreck.  Their intention was to provide me a lesson on the rules of tthe road via the school of knocks, not hard knocks, just knocks on the head and body.

But Don, not even waiting to hear my explanation of a burnt out flashing light and attempt to hand signal, spoke up for me, affirming my status of being known by him and prejudged as being "cool."

Wouldn't it be great if we had someone, as we stood before the judgment seat of Almighty God and the angelic host, who having a relationship with us, prejudged us and would mediate before the Throne saying, "I know him, he's cool."

Well, while the precise words may differ a bit, we do have someone who does exactly that "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5) - our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, stands between us and judgment from the Throne because, as he reveals in the Fourth Gospel, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me" (Jn 10:14).

I had an explanation for why the other driver could not see my signaling in the darkness, I was prepared to offer my excuse but the fact was, I knew the bulb was out, I knew that seeing my hand in the dark was problematic, my excuse was defenseless except for my relationship with Don, his knowledge of me as friend and willingness to mediate for me saved my hide that summer night.

We may have explanations for all we have done and not done in life, we may think we are ready to offer our excuses for our failures, we may even think we deserve a pass.  But the truth is that "all sin and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23) and it is only our relationship with Jesus Christ, who will mediate for those known by him that will save our souls on that Day for "no one comes to the Fathter except through [him]" (Jn 14:6).  Jus' Say'n.