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One of our favorite Christian artists, John P. Kee asks in one of his songs, which was more important: Jesus’ birth? Or his death? The answer is both were equally important. Christ was born into this world as a mortal human being in order to die a savior.
At Christmas, we focus on why Jesus came into the world and the good news He brought. Undoubtedly Jesus brought a new understanding of love to us (read 1 Corinthians 13). His words give glory to the Father and reveal the oneness of the Father and the Son, but they also disclose the inheritance of love passed down from the Father to the Son, to us, and through the Holy Spirit, to others.
At Easter, we see another side of the love that the Father and Son have for us. That love is a willingness to sacrifice the very relationship they had, for all eternity past, to save us from ourselves and our sin. There has always been a oneness between the Father and the Son, but the Son allowed Himself to be separated from the Father when He took on all of our sins: past, present and future at the Cross. This pure and Holy One gave up his very nature and became sin for us.
Do you remember the story of Abraham and his willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac? That story is a foreshadow of the Father’s willingness to sacrifice the Son. In Genesis 22: 2 God said to Isaac, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” The most remarkable thing about that story is that Abraham did not hesitate to bring his son, whom he loved so much, to the sacrificial altar. The scripture says that after hearing God’s command, Abraham got up early the next morning and even cut the wood for the burnt offering with his own hand (v.3). Abraham had many servants who could have done that and he could have had the two servants he took with him carry out the sacrifice. But he told them “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there.” (v.4). It was Abraham who build the altar, Abraham who arranged the wood, Abraham who bound his son…his only son, whom he loved to the altar, (v.9) and it was Abram who the scripture says “…reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.” (v. 10) But unlike the story of Abraham and Isaac where the Lord called out, “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” God did sacrifice his own son, whom He loved, so that we, His creation could be redeemed.” You see, there could only be one sacrificial lamb, only one to pay the price for our sin. The Father sacrificed his beloved Son, and the Son willingly surrendered himself to the horrors of crucifixion for us.
What a love! What an overpowering love.
The message of Easter is contained so clearly in John 3:16: “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.” But this story has a happy ending, because after Christ’s sacrifice, “… God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him (Acts 2:24) “Exalted to the right hand of God.” (Acts 2:33)
Jesus came into this world and left it, leaving us a blue print of how we ought to live. First, give God our all, no matter what it cost us. Second, love one another with the kind of love that sacrifices our own wants and needs for that of others.
We at Sisters in Faith challenge you this Easter to follow Christ’s example and find someone in need, someone who is hurting or alone. Bless them with whatever you have to give, even if that is just your company or some other demonstration that you care for them as another human being. In return, we pray that you are overwhelmed with a new understanding that you are the one whom God loves and whom He has always loved
-Michele Clark Jenkins & Stephanie Perry Moore
General Editors
Sisters in Faith Holy Bible
