Thought for the month

Easter is a very special time for Christians when they remember the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The last week of Jesus’ life was spent in Jerusalem and was a time of great contrasts. On Palm Sunday he entered Jerusalem in triumph to the acclamation of thousands of people who had come to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. Jesus rode on a donkey’s colt, declaring that he was the King of Peace, and the people spread their cloaks and branches they had cut from in the fields on the road. They shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Yet four days later when Pilate, the Roman Governor, offered to release Jesus the same people shouted “Crucify him! The reason they rejected Jesus was that he was not doing what they wanted him to do. The people were living under Roman rule, and they wanted a leader who would lead a revolt against the Romans and set the nation free. Often people don’t want to live under God’s gracious rule but simply want him to fulfil their desires and do what they want. When God seems not to answer their prayers or fulfil their desires, they turn against him as the people of Jerusalem turned against Jesus.

More than 600 years before Jesus was born the prophet Isaiah spoke of the suffering and death of the Messiah, the Lord’s Servant. He wrote, “Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” As Jesus began his ministry John the Baptist pointed at Jesus and proclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

The biggest problem the world faces is human sin. The biggest problem each of us faces is our sinful nature. Jesus came into the world to deal with sin by dying on the Cross in our place. God cannot simply overlook our sins, instead he gave his only Son to pay the penalty our sins deserve by dying in our place. A Christian is a forgiven sinner who has received Jesus as Saviour and Lord.