Died for us, buried and resurrected

The significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus

On Good Friday, we Christians celebrate Jesus' death. Celebrate? Shouldn't we be totally sad about that? Yes, we are sad on Good Friday because we recognize our own guilt before God and ask Him for forgiveness. Jesus died for us. But this sadness is taken away by the hope that awaits us on Easter Sunday. The Lord is risen! Hallelujah.

And not because we deserve to be redeemed, we don't. But solely for the reason described by John in chapter 3 verse 6: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

We all deserve to die and be separated from God. We have all committed countless sins, broken commandments and disobeyed rules. We are all, without exception, guilty before the one truly holy God. And yet he died for us. Jesus, true God and true man, was born of the Virgin Mary to live a sinless, perfect life here on earth, with all the temptations we human beings face in the course of our lives, and then innocently went to the cross for you and me. Jesus did not have to die. He didn't have to come down to earth and expose himself to all that humiliation and suffering. And yet he did. Out of love for us human beings. And through this final sacrifice, the gap between God and man is bridged. For on Easter Sunday the Lord rose from the dead. Proof that the prophets of the Old Testament were right in their prophecies of Jesus' death and resurrection. Death has been conquered for everyone who believes in the Son and his atoning death for the whole world.

And in Christ, we too have now died to sin. His sacrifice paid for all the sins of the whole world. Eternal life now awaits us. And even now, every year when we celebrate Easter, Jesus' death shows us something completely different, something that each of us can and should put into practice immediately: Sacrifice and charity. Especially today, when selfishness and self-realization are becoming more and more present. Serve one another! Love your enemies! These are phrases that Jesus once taught in a similar way and then put into practice for us. The teachings of the Bible are becoming less and less important in Western countries like Germany, which were once so Christian, and yet these words and this act of God will never fade away. The love of God can only be truly revealed in us human beings through the love of our neighbor. Serve each other and love your enemies. This is what we really need in this day and age.