What Is Easter All About?

Easter is the perfect union of two concepts which are seemingly polar opposites. Justice and Compassion.

Easter is a story of 100% justice and 100% compassion. It is the account of the aggrieved Creator dealing with the rebellion of his creatures - neither punishing them as they fully deservednor ignoring their wrongdoing. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

The groundless accusations against Jesus resulting in his death, remembered at Easter, is the historical evidence that 100% justice and 100% compassion can be seen in one event. “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

Rather than thinking that our transgressions can be overlooked, God deals with them as a parent would sort out a car, wrecked by their wayward (but loved) child. They pay for it themselves, expecting the child to respond to compassion rather than condemnation.

The best that God could sacrifice and the most that Christ Jesus could offer was simultaneously given on the cross, in the greatest exchange known to humans.

The justice of God isn’t degradedrebellion against God is serious. The compassion of God is not compromised - there can be no greater righteous act of free grace.

How do we know that God’s plan worked? If the wages of sin is death, Jesus overcame death by being raised on the 3rd day after his crucifixion.

By John Stimson Pastor of Christ Church Hilton