Easter Thoughts - Pastor's Pen for 5th April 2026

Forrest Hill Sunrise

The religious and secular authorities of Jesus' day didn't take the time or have the inclination to take on board what he was saying, to allow his teaching, healing, saving life to modify their view of the world. How interesting a history it would have been had they done so. Instead they did what the power brokers in every generation do; they killed the one they we afraid of, the one they didn't understand, that which posed a threat to their power.

I can't help but feel a certain tension inside my gut as we see, once again, violence being used as the 'go to' option for problem solving among nations. Leaders think they are clever, as they once again robustly execute the mistakes history has already shown will create a bigger mess. It was Thomas Mann who said; “There are so many kinds of stupidity, and cleverness is one of the worst.”

God knows this is what human beings are like, so God gave us not another chubby, gilded, despot on a warhorse, but messiah on a donkey, journeying in humility to the cross. We refuse to understand Jesus, but in his grace he waits for us. Leon Morris wrote of the cross; "It is the means of bringing us salvation and it is the basis of our living the saved life. ...A Christianity which is not cross-centred is not Christianity at all. This is of the utmost importance both for our understanding of the faith and for our proclamation of it."

On the cross, Jesus understands and identifies with all human grief and suffering. He enters into the human condition. On the resurrection day, we remember that the cross is the way of salvation, and our wellspring of everlasting life. In faith we are raised up too. New Zealand author Joy Cowley wrote about this day:

Today we dance with the angels round all the empty tombs in our lives,

celebrating transformation, from grief to laughter, from darkness into light.

Today we glimpse the truth of suffering and death as we move with you in your Jesus song of resurrections without end.