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Viewpoint from Rev Dan Waite 19/04/2019

Revd Dan Waite
Associate Minister, St Andrew’s Church, Gorleston

as published in the Yarmouth Mercury

        “The Cross is not just for Easter …      
but for life … and eternity”

 
In our Easter services this weekend, the hymns, our Bible readings, the teaching we receive, and the decoration of the church at Easter all remind us what Jesus did … when he went to the cross at Calvary. The cruel practice of crucifixion was probably the most horrific system of death by torture devised by man, but the Son of God who came to earth as a man, submitted himself to its horrors and died a sacrifice for our sinfulness
 
As we get to understand just what God has done through Jesus death on the cross and resurrection to life, we find that the cross is also a bridge, a holy way into God’s presence. The biggest problem in the world is described by one of the smallest words … sin … meaning our disobedience to God, which results in our separation from God. But the message of the cross is that God through Jesus has provided us with not only a way of being released from the consequences of our sins but into a pathway leading to eternal life with him in heaven
 
At the start of his ministry as we can read in Mark 1 … “Jesus proclaimed … that the time has come, the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news … come and follow me”. The message of good news that Jesus spoke throughout his three year mission, to the cross and beyond as our resurrected Saviour can be summed up in three words … repent … believe … follow
 
Jesus' death on the cross was God’s way of activating the good news. Hanging there on the cross, Jesus was made sin for us as he experienced in himself two opposing forces – the negative of our sins and the power of death, and the positive of God’s overwhelming and powerful love. Jesus overcame evil and gloriously and triumphantly rose from the dead
 
The cross is not just for Easter, but for each moment of each day as we repent and know the power of God’s forgiveness setting us free. It is the power of the cross which enables us to forgive those who have hurt us. It is the power of the cross which enables us to believe we can do all things, because Christ through his Spirit is within us. And it is the power of the cross which fills us with God’s love for him, and for others we find as we follow him day by day

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