In two weeks’ time we will enjoy the main festival and celebration of the Christian church; no, not Christmas but Easter. Easter does not hold the same level of social excitement of Christmas but is a more sombre part of the churches calendar as it is a recognition that we have been redeemed back to God through the violent event experienced by Jesus called the Crucifixion; one of the most gruesome, vehement and excruciating methods of execution.
Yet from the birth of Jesus His destiny and purpose was the cross; as a matter of fact, his entire commission (so to say) was in training for his death and in doing so, redeem mankind back to Himself. Jesus kept His central to the purpose of his ministry and life. His healing, his feeding, his sermons, his fights and quarrels were part and percale of his purpose; Calvary.
The ministry of Jesus is split mainly into two locations; Galilee and Jerusalem. It is in Jerusalem where Jesus deliberately heads to at the end of His ministry knowing that is where his earthly ministry would both end and be fulfilled.
As Christians, the cross holds paradoxical emotions of both joy and pain, a bitter sweet pill in that the sufferings and pain experienced by the innocent Lamb of God resulted in the hope and life mankind so desperately desired and required and the shed blood of the Son demanded by God the Father. The weight of sin on the cross brought about the offer of freedom and relief for all who would believe and receive. The darkness that covered the land moved aside to enable the spreading of the light of the world in the heart of every believer.
This week, let us spend time reflecting on the preparation for the greatest sacrifice ever made for you and I. We are soooo loved.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” John 3:1