When did Jesus die?

Launching of the Maale New Testament in Ethiopia.


What will we be doing over Easter?

The bees were playing when Jesus died.

One Ethiopian Bible translation team translated “At the time of day when the bees come out to play, Jesus died.”

People of this particular tribe tell time by events in the natural world. Bee-keeping is one of their main occupations, and so three o’clock in the afternoon to them, is the time when the activity of the bees changes from what seems to be purposeful, work-directed, to seem to be playful. It is the time of day when the bees seem to buzz around the hives, rather than flying directly from and to the hives.

In a sense the whole world was “playing” as Jesus died, oblivious to the greatest work in the history of the world being done in behalf of all people.

This weekend, as we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, many people will be “playing”. In countries where the Easter weekend is still honoured by public holidays commemorating the events, many will flock to places of recreation and relaxation. In many countries Easter will pass as an event on the church calendar, with hardly any interruption of business activities.

What will you be doing over Easter?

Let’s take time this weekend to contemplate the greatest event that ever occurred on this earth: The Son of God dying that our sins may be forgiven, and rising from the dead, so that we may be justified. Surely the magnitude and significance of that event warrants our thanksgiving and adoration?

And as we play, let our playing be as Spurgeon once said, “holy inaction and consecrated leisure.”

Véroni Krüger