For many the Easter weekend is time to make merry because it is a long weekend….It is time to be with family and friends….spend time together ….eat together etc….For others; it is time to travel and tour new places …book themselves into Hotels….enjoy good food and drinks….When all this is done; we go back to our “usual” routines….and we wait for the next year to “repeat” the same ….
For the churches; they are not left behind….they remind us of the Easter weekend in many ways… similar activities done year after year (religiously)….But; I wonder!!!! Have we really individually understood the importance of the “Easter weekend.”….The true meaning and implication of the sacrifice that Jesus gave as a penalty for our sins???….Can we turn this question and make it personal…Ask yourself this question…. Do you really know the meaning and the implication of this sacrifice!!!….What is your “response” to it!!!…
If you have never “sat” and asked yourself this question; now that you have, what are you going to change in response to the “answer” you got!!!!
Reflect on these verses…..
Ephesians 2:13,14,16 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus…Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ …For Christ himself has brought peace to us….He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us ….Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death ….
This is well said …Now you know that the death of Jesus on the cross also destroyed everything that was meant to divide us…..We were therefore reconciled to God as one people…our sins were forgiven and all our sicknesses and diseases were healed….
Is this our reality today !!!! NO!!!… we are still “divided” by Religion….affecting our relationships….(we are this …you are that ….we do this …you don’t do this and that)… Nationalities and “skin” colour also divide us…..In some cases; culture divides us too…
Surprisingly; these divisions were there even in the days of the old before Jesus came ….the Jews and Gentiles ….the Samaritans…..the Pharisees….
With all these things dividing us rather than bringing us together; no wonder we have unending conflicts and wars …And yet; Jesus provided a solution through his death on the cross….
If we want to fully understand the full implication of Jesus’ death on the cross; we must understand that though this death; we were reconciled with God but also with one another to become one people under God ……That is were the good news of salvation and reconciliation comes in to “break” down the “walls” of religion and everything else that comes to divide us ….
John 14:6….Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life….No one can come to the Father except through me.”
Can we “free” ourselves from everything that “divide” us and be reconciled to God….by the blood of Jesus….Can we become “ambassadors” of Christ by sharing the good news to those who do not know it???
Because God loves us all ….He “gave” his one and only son …as a living Sacrifice to die on our behalf inorder for us to be reconciled back to him….