This year we all celebrate Easter probably somehow differently. How much would we like to be with our family and good friends now or would invite them to join us. How happy would we be to let ourselves be tempted by the wonderful sunshine to a day trip or even a short holiday to the beach, to the mountains or simply far away. Just switch off and forget everything. And even if everything seems to be as usual, we still notice that something is different this time.
But if we remember why we celebrate Easter at all, then the whole turmoil is somehow secondary at the moment.
Easter is a feast for joy and hope because Jesus Christ died for our mistakes on the cross! You may find it strange to be happy about someone else’s death, and in purely human terms it may be. But maybe you’ll take a moment to think with me about why this is so important to us as Christians.
Who is this Jesus, in fact?
Jesus is first and foremost the son of God. At the time, he consciously decided to come to this world – as a person like you and me out of flesh and blood. But unlike us humans, he is God’s son – just like his father – without mistakes! His life here on earth was marked by sermons, miracles and above all his unconditional love.He lived obedient to God to tell people about God
Why did he come to this world and why did he die?
Jesus is the only person who has ever decided to be born and die. The real reason for his coming from the beginning was to die in our place.
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many .Mark 10.45
He did that because he loved us and didn’t want us to pay the fine for all the things we did wrong. Because we humans are inherently making mistakes that separate us from God and that must be punished. For example, if someone is violating a law, then a court will decide on the appropriate penalty. The same is true when we violate God’s law. Then you would have to…Our mistakes are actually punished. But this faultless Jesus consciously and out of love decided to accept the death penalty for our sins – past and future – innocently. The punishment that was actually applicable to all of us. With his blood at the cross Jesus paid the price for our liberation!
Why do we need him?
Every man was created to be in communion with God. Believe in it or not, God has put this deep longing for Him into each of us. We can try to fill this deep void with various things, such as money, success, sport, even drug use. For a certain time these things may satisfy our desire, but they always leave a void behind, because the inner, deep desire in us human beings can only be completely satisfied with communion with God!
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.John 6.35
Jesus is the only one who can satisfy our hunger – our deep desire – because he makes it possible for our relationship with God to be restored. Because the things that we do wrong create a barrier between God and us that prevents us from stepping before God. But by Jesus’s death on the cross, he removed this barrier and allowed us a relationship with God, our creator!
Let us take Jesus into our lives so God will help us – his sons and daughters – to get to know him better, to understand his word, to love others and to let us change by him!
So Easter is a celebration of joy because we remember that Jesus paid our punishment completely because he loves us so much! And we can celebrate this because our Savior, our King, our best friend and helper still stands by us today and in all crises faithfully!.
Eure Natascha
