It was unusually warm, dry and sunny on this wonderful Easter Sunday. Families and friends gathered together to enjoy Easter eggs hunts and sweet treats. Many would reminisce about times gone by, sharing stories from their travels, warm hugs and hearty laughter.

For many people, the gathering of family and friends around the dinner table are the core of their Easter celebrations. I find great value in the time I spend with my family on holidays. It is truly wonderful to share our lives with one another through stories and memories.

At the end of the day, our relationships with family and friends influence our perceptions of self-worth. We learn to live, love, agree and disagree within our most important relationships.

What if there was another person inviting us into relationship, someone even more important than the humans we love so dearly?

The relationship I want to talk about is a personal relationship with God and his son, Jesus. Three days before Easter, the prophecies about Jesus began to come true. Jesus knew that his time to die was drawing near and he begged God to release him from his burden.

“He fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” –Matthew 26:39

Jesus was sent to earth by God to bear the sins of every person who has lived, who is living and will live in the future. He was accused of claiming to be the son of God and was chosen to be crucified. He was tortured, beaten, mocked, whipped and publicly disgraced. After being nearly beaten to death, he was forced to carry his own cross to the place where he would die.

Jesus was then nailed to a cross with a crown of thorns on his head, in between two thieves.

“From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” –Matthew 27:45-53

The brutal murder of God’s one and only son can only move us to sorrow and grief. However, this is nowhere near the end of the story.

After his death, Jesus was wrapped in linen and placed inside of a tomb. The officials did not want the disciples to steal the body and pretend like Jesus had risen, so they commanded that a large stone be used to seal the tomb.

Three days after Jesus had died, Mary Magdalene and Mary went to the tomb. An angel rolled the stone away from the tomb and the tomb was empty. Jesus had risen from the dead and was no longer in the grave.

The story of Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection is one of the most widely circulated and controversial stories in all of human history. This story has shaped human history and will continue to do so until the coming of God’s kingdom.

You ask, why would an all-powerful and loving God murder his own son for the sake of sinful humans? For people who openly reject his commands, who turn their back to him on a daily basis?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” –John 3:16-17

God could have wiped away all of human sin without killing his son, but he didn’t.

God could have let the cup of suffering pass Jesus by, but he didn’t.

God loves this world and his creation so much that he was willing to give up his own son to pay for the sins of the world. God showed his power by refraining from saving Jesus from the punishment of sin.

As humans, we will never fully comprehend the height, breadth, depth or length of God’s love for humans, as broken, messed up and sinful people. By paying for our sins on the cross, we no longer have to be chained to the burden of sin. We are invited into a personal relationship with God through the loving sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Easter means so much more than spending quality time with family and friends. We are called to recognize and rejoice in the price that Jesus paid for all people by willingly laying down his life in love. It is a celebration of a new life that is free from sin and death, found only through a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.