“How does the thief on the cross fit into your theology? No baptism, no communion, no confirmation, no speaking in tongues, no mission trip, no volunteerism, no financial gifts and no Church clothes. He couldn’t even bend his knees to pray. He didn’t say the sinner’s prayer and among other things, he was a thief. Jesus didn’t take away his pain, heal his body, or smite his scoffers, yet, it was a thief who walked into paradise the same hour as Jesus, simply by believing. He had nothing more to offer other than his belief that Jesus was who He said He was:
No spin from brilliant theologians.
No ego or arrogance.
No shiny lights, skinny jeans, or crafty words.
No haze machine, donuts, or coffee in the lobby.
Just a naked dying man on a cross unable to even fold his hands to pray.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that WHOEVER believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. That is Gospel (Good News). Complex, but that simple!
We all have a view about Easter in one way or another. On the one extreme you have the atheist and the agnostic doubting or denying the very existence of God and on the other hand you have devout Christians each believing in their own way the importance of Easter and how it should be celebrated. There are even differences of opinion on which Sunday is Easter Day.
However you believe Easter should be celebrated, be it in robes with great ceremony, with great parades as they do here in Spain, or in a simple and uplifted manner there is, but one simple truth – on a day almost 2000 years ago Jesus Christ the Son of God was taken by Roman Soldiers and Jewish officials to a place called Golgotha and was nailed to a wooden cross and left to die. This callous act was barbarous in the extreme, but it was the Roman way and once the trial was concluded there was no other way for Jesus to die but on a cross.
Why did He have to die? The death of Jesus is seen by God as the substitution for you and me. The Bible tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Now there is redemption in the blood of Jesus. Our sins are forgiven – past, present and future, by the act of us accepting Jesus into our lives, just like the thief on the cross we can be forgiven. A simple prayer is all it takes to find peace with God and to enter into a new life with Christ.
On Good Friday, 7 April, we will be holding our traditional service around the theme of Hymns and Hot Cross buns. This will start at 11am at The Diner, Camposol B.
Do you know Jesus as your personal saviour? If so, why not come and join in the celebration with us? If you don’t yet know Jesus, but want to know more, come along and join in the singing of some well-known Easter Hymns and ask all the questions you want to people who know Jesus.
We will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday at 11am in the Event Room above Trevi Bar, Camposol B.