I greet you in the name of our Crucified and Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.
Easter is about boundless grace, victory, joy and renewed hope. It is a divine proclamation of God’s decisive victory over the evil forces of sin and death. Easter is an announcement to the world that the cross of Jesus was a victory, not a defeat.
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, death is described as, “The road from which no traveler has ever returned.” (Hamlet Act 3 Scene 1) He was wrong because we believe that one did return and his name is Jesus, the Christ. For this reason, the words hopeless and impossible lose its meaning.
The story of Jesus would have been nothing more than an occasional point of reference of an inspirational teacher, a charismatic figure or a martyr if it had simply ended with the crucifixion, but Jesus defeated death and rose from the grave on the third day. We are the people of the resurrection and can affirm with the writer of Romans and Christians throughout the centuries that; “God raised Jesus from the dead.” (Romans 4:24)
We are a people who know that we cannot have Easter without Good Friday. We cannot have Christ without the cross, a symbol of a compassionate, loving God who identifies with human suffering. The cross is God’s instrument of salvation. No other faith speaks of a suffering God who opposes injustice and oppression.
Theologians like Jürgen Moltmann, (The Crucified God) James Cone, (God of the Oppressed), Kazoh Kitamori (The Pain of God), Maria Pilar Aquino (Our Cry for Life) Mercy Odduyoye (Beads and Strands), Choan Sen Song (The Compassionate God and Jesus, the Crucified People) and Allan Boesak (Farewell to Innocence) all lived through their own modern-day Golgothas in their various countries and bring their unique perspectives of the suffering God. Their scholarship questions the concept of Divine Impassibility. They bear eloquent testimony to a God who shows compassion and loving solidarity with all who suffer. They point out that God remains intimate with those who suffer and is the hope of the world.
During Eastertide, it is my hope and prayer that all who are anxious and fearful of life circumstances will experience the presence of the Risen Lord and hear the words spoken to the women at the tomb, “Do not be afraid.”
Shalom,
Ivan Abrahams
General Secretary
