During Lent, we think a lot about death—our own and Jesus’

Dear Friend,

During Lent, we think a lot about death—our own and Jesus’. Thank God, Jesus’ death makes all the difference. Jesus’ death leads to forgiveness and resurrection; therefore, we grieve but not “as others do who have no hope.” (1st Thessalonians 4:13)

Today, members of my family are walking “through the valley of the shadow of death.” (Psalm 23:4) Some version of that shadow hangs over every member of the human family. To whom can we go but to the one who died for us all? We cannot fully explain the salvation Christ crucified gives us; we can experience it. We can receive light even from a simple old hymn:

We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.

Our Lord no longer hangs on a green hill far away. Jesus lives to pray for you. Jesus stays “with you, always, even to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) You need fear no evil. You can live with hope.

Love,
Joel