Comment: Celebrating big anniversary

For those who believe in Jesus, receiving the ultimate gift is what makes this Easter celebration brilliant.

Like many others in Rotorua, I'll be celebrating a big anniversary this weekend.

It is the anniversary of the most famous execution ever staged.
The execution I'm talking about is at the heart of the Easter story. It is a story I've come to love over the years and is all about my hero, Jesus.

The reason I call him my hero is because he did something pretty special about 2000 years ago. He deliberately gave up his life to help others. Myself included.

He was an innocent man in all regards but was hated by many of his own countrymen, to the point he was eventually tortured and killed aged only in his early 30s.

His crimes? There were none.

His suffering was great and the punishment he took was immense. But he took it all willingly.

This is what I love about the Easter story, the answer to why would Jesus die willing?
Especially if he was innocent.
The answer is brilliant.

Jesus was on a mission to die. He knew exactly what was ahead of him and he suffered greatly. But he did it all because of a thing called grace.

Grace means to show someone love when they are deserving of the complete opposite of love.

In other words, no one was deserving of getting anything from Jesus. But God sent him to die for people like me anyway.

It is a deep mystery that God would send us a hero if we were not deserving of one. But send him he did.
And by dying he paid for something we should have paid for, our sin - all our wrong doings before God.

For those who believe in Jesus, that is what makes this Easter celebration brilliant. That is why Christians everywhere love it.