An Easter Romance

Romance softens our hearts. Women love to be given flowers and to be tenderly kissed. More than anything, we love to be loved. There is nothing more romantic than this. But sometimes the love we receive is a half-measure, and sometimes we don’t know we are loved.

This is how we know what romance is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. The Easter cross with its dead man hanging, bruised and bloody, is the most romantic thing in all the world - because he did it for us.

If we were absolutely lovely, beautiful and admired women, then its romance might be less remarkable – “for a good [wo]man someone might possibly dare to die” (Romans 5:7). But only one man cared enough to die for women who hated him, who did their own thing even when they knew it hurt him. Such was God’s romance that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

We are more ugly than we have ever guessed, and more cherished than we could ever dream. That man was whipped and mocked for us. He hung on that cross and it was for us that he cried “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). He did it for us: to make us holy, to cleanse us and present us radiant, “without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 4:27). “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” (1 John 3:16).

Sorry

On February 13th the Australian Prime Minister said sorry to Aboriginal people. It happened a week before I started attending a church in Redfern, where many Aboriginal people live, and I know they were all deeply appreciative.

I started thinking about people who are never told ‘sorry’. Must their lives be on hold, without resolution, with ongoing bitterness or despair?

The answer to this question requires faith and trust. The first part of the answer is that even if people are never sorry or never tell you so, they are accountable to God, and he does not overlook a single wrong. When the Lord Jesus died, he bore God’s wrath for each evil deed done on this earth. So the second part of the answer then, is that through Jesus, God offers your enemies mercy. They can say sorry to God and he will accept Jesus’ punishment in their place. But if they do not, justice will still be served. So this leads to the third part of the answer – our role is to show the same mercy we have been shown. To forgive as we have been forgiven.

It is some comfort to know that judgment is assured. But is there no more hope and comfort for this life? Jesus has risen, he has given us his Spirit and called us to follow him – surely the world can be transformed. But there is actually little hope for this life, for as long as people are cruel and careless, the world can never be very good. Suffering and heartache will always be the norm in this world. This does not mean, of course, that we should turn a blind eye, just that there will never be heaven on this earth. And yet, the fourth and final part of the answer is that there is hope, a hope so good that it eclipses all the pain of this world. “[O]ur present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18, italics mine). “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) The hope of heaven is a hope that will not disappoint. We will be with God and he with us, and we will be glad to sing him praise all our days.

When this life is ugly, we are to trust in God’s justice, to show mercy, to be kind and to work towards justice and to wait patiently and eagerly for the new heaven and earth. It is simple, it is hard and it is good.