Easter is the culmination of our life of faith. It’s the reason why we believe and that’s why we celebrate. We celebrate with a tear in our eye, because we once again walk the Via Dolorosa with Jesus as He suffers. 

In my mind’s eye, I see Jesus carrying and dragging His heavy cross by Himself, while the soldiers beat Him with whips. The sadists among the bunch also wove pebbles into the whips. 

It is upsetting to realise how hard Jesus had to suffer! While life bled out of Him drop by drop, He was surrounded by a taunting crowd.  And for them and their sins, He laid down His divine life. 

I can’t even imagine how barbaric the crucifixion was. The nails through His wrists and His ankles. Most likely He took His last breath because He suffocated. 

It’s heartbreaking! 

But thank goodness there was a Sunday. A resurrection Sunday where God’s power was far greater than the valley of the shadow of death. The perfect Lamb had to be sacrificed to pay the debt for all our sins. 

This is truly wonderful: if we acknowledge and confess our sins, God is faithful to His promises to write off all our debts and forget about our sins. Jesus has already paid for it in full and our eternal life has already begun. 

I pray that this Easter weekend, you and your loved ones will again be touched by our Father’s wonderful act of love and that you will in a special way again experience His presence through His Holy Spirit. 

May you share this wonderful news with all your loved ones. May you use this festive weekend as an inspiration to tell people about our wonderful and loving Father. May you share with them what Jesus has done in your life, is still doing every day and will continue to do.  

May the world around you become different, because the resurrected Jesus is a reality in your life. 

I invite you to join us on Friday where we will look at Jesus on the cross through the eyes of the centurion, the man who nailed Jesus to the cross. Johan Laten delivers a moving interpretation of this. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/-V2D3axu1Xc

Johan and I wrote a play for Resurrection Sunday: The Other Man on the Cross. Feel free to invite everyone to come and watch this powerful true story with you. Here is the link: 

May the grace of our loving Father, the love of Jesus Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit be with you and your loved ones all the way. 

Many blessings! 

Gerjo Ben, Renata and the rest of the Crossroads team