Dear Friends,

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As is often the case this letter should have been written a week ago but

as usual it’s late and I'm now hastily tapping the keyboard in the

following week, the week in which Spring has arrived and which brings

me closer to the most important time in the Christian Year. This year as

with every other in various ways we will recall the death and resurrection

of Jesus.

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Last Sunday, I preached on the passion of Christ explaining that passion

in this context refers to the suffering of Christ. I mentioned a film of

several years ago by Mel Gibson called The Passion of the Christ, a film

that was horribly realistic and not for the squeamish. The film provoked a

lot of controversy because of its content and interpretation. The death of

Jesus should leave us with questions but not because of the gore and

notoriety but because of the one question and answer that really matters, ‘Why did he die?’

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One answer given is about politicians plotting the removal of one they

saw as a rival or troublemaker. If this was the whole truth how does one

account for the Gospel account of Jesus allowing himself to be captured

and killed? He could easily have avoided arousing such opposition or

escaped. The warning signs were there. He did not flee but chose to

make himself vulnerable and die in apparent weakness. He said that he

saw this as God’s will for him and spoke of how it might be the same for

his followers. The death of Jesus was not the unfortunate end of a

political activist.

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The truth the Bible presents to us is, Jesus died because of us and

because of God. Firstly, he died because of us, for we are sinful and

cannot do anything about that ourselves. To say we are sinful does not

mean there is no good in us, but it does man every part of life is not what it should be. Secondly, he died because of God, for God is both

holiness and love. God’s holiness judges our sin, his love causes him to

bear the penalty of that judgement himself.

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A great theologian of the last century P.T. Forsyth spoke of, ‘the holy

love of God'. The passion and death of Jesus is where the demands of

holiness and love are seen in an absolute way, where justice and mercy

​meet. To put it in another way, it was God’s demand for the best and

the giving of his own best which meant Jesus had to die.

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You may actually read this on Easter Sunday itself and think there has

hardly been a mention of Easter, but I recall something I heard from a

wise teacher in my first year as a minister, how the resurrection tells us

what Jesus did on the cross, he did successfully. How the message of

Easter is not a new message over and above the message of Good

Friday, but the revelation of the true meaning of Good Friday. You may

now know because of Easter that you may be forgiven and through your

faith in Jesus there is now for you no condemnation. He is risen! Alleluia!

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Wishing you a joyous Easter, Robert