THIS week most of us have once again read about, heard, preached, or watched re-enacted the passion of Christ. We recalled once again how about 2,000 years ago, an innocent man suffered terribly and offered his life in a gruesome crucifixion because of his love for you and me.
What is not fully comprehensible to the human mind is that the victim was God himself taking the lowly nature of a human being and carrying in his wounded and bloody body all the sins, sicknesses, and pains of this world. That man-God is no other than Jesus Christ our Lord.
The good news is that the story had a happy ending. Yes, Jesus died but he lived again. He was buried but he resurrected from the dead, never to die again. And just as he became victorious over death, so shall we who believe in him.
Someday, if Jesus is not yet coming, we shall all die. But unlike animals which only have a physical body that decays, we also have a spiritual soul who lives forever. Thus, lest we forget, our life in this world is only temporary.
We are looking forward to an eternity spent with God in heaven where there is no more pain, suffering, sadness, disease, and all other fruits of human disobedience. We are setting our eyes to our eternal home where there is only unspeakable peace, joy and love – dwarfing and rendering insignificant all the best that this world has to offer.
But... and there is a but.... only if we believe in what God, in his Son Jesus, has done for us on that first Good Friday, and if we resolve, by his grace, to reject evil and do good.
Someday, together with all who died through the ages, we will resurrect and be clothed with our glorified bodies. Someday, we who are now mortals will enjoy immortality.
This is the Easter promise and it is the cause of our joy.
Happy Easter.