The Tree

The Easter Tree

In my last blog, in which I related the story about a man who used to hang his worries on a tree, I said that my next blog would be about a very important tree.

A strong sense of fairness seems to be part of the human psyche. I remember my daughter yelling, “It’s not fair” when she was punished for something she thought was all her brothers fault.

Jesus lived a life devoted to loving and helping others and yet the people turned on Him. Even though He had done nothing wrong Jesus was condemned and punished by being nailed to a tree until dead. This was the favourite form of execution during Roman times. So maybe we should be yelling, “It’s not fair!”

So why did Jesus die?

If I look at the beginning of my Bible I read that when the human race started everything was very good, clean, innocent and without any wrong doing. If you carry on reading the Bible in the next chapter we read that after satan had tempted Eve, sin entered this world and damaged the perfect relationship God enjoyed with people.

Christians call this broken relationship sin. From that day on the human race started to mess up and needed someone or something to set things right again. To mend our friendship with God someone has to take the blame and and punishment.

Sin stains our lives and poisons our friendships both with God and each other. There is nothing we can do to rid ourselves of the stain of wrongdoing. Christians believe that Jesus came to take our punishment for our wrongdoing so that we did not have to be punished. Even though He had done nothing wrong Jesus was punished instead of us so that our relationship with God could be returned to how it once was. That is why Jesus was hung out to die on a tree.

Anyone who asks God to forgive them can have a new start. That is why Jesus had to die. This is the reason why Easter is a celebration and not a time of mourning Jesus death.

We each have the choice to say, “Okay God I messed up. I realise that I cannot make things perfect again. I accept that by dying for me Jesus made things right.”

What happened at Easter time over 2000 years ago is more than just an historical event. Saying “yes” to Jesus can change your life forever.