How I’d answer

A very important Easter question

One of my favorite writers, Mari Andrew, wrote this in her most-recent essay:

Theologically, Easter makes almost no sense to me. I’ve been going to church since I was zero and I can’t begin to tell you what it means to “die for one’s sins” (??) … But I deeply understand the poetry of the holiday. All religions have some manifestation of the divine in earthly form, which is one of the most poetic things I can think of.

And the idea of God becoming a baby, then an adult who laughs and cries, and then someone who dies, is a special kind of poetry.

Her implied question, What does it mean to ‘die for one’s sins’, caught my attention. If I ever met Mari, which I would absolutely love to do, and she (for whatever reason) asked me that question, what would I say?

So Saturday morning, Adam and I talked about the answer to that question for a while on the couch. Our conversation made us a little late to the family Easter egg hunt, but that feels poetic to me.

Here is what I would try to say to lovely Mari. (This is assuming all I have time for is 5 minute speech, not a conversation.)

I believe God loves us very deeply. So much so that He doesn’t want to be away from us. In fact, God wants us to live where He lives and go where He goes forever after this life. And He also wants us to feel His love during this life and be happy.

Most people are trying to live good lives. We all want to make choices that bring happiness to us and others. But we all mess up in that pursuit. Whether on purpose, on accident, or somewhere in between, we all make choices that don’t lead to happiness. Or in other words, we make choices that don’t lead to God (He is the source of happiness).

So how do we turn around and go back to God? The scriptures teach that only Jesus Christ makes our return to God—whether the “big” return after this life or the many, many “little” returns we can make during life—possible.

Why only Jesus Christ? The Book of Mormon answers this in a way that’s really helpful for me. All of this “die for one’s sins” makes more sense to me because of that sacred text. But simply put, Jesus Christ fulfilled a God-given mission only He was capable of as God’s only Son. Christ willingly came to earth and throughout His life exclusively made choices that led to God. At the end of his life, He willingly and innocently suffered the consequences of wrong choices (aka sin) that the universe requires. All wrong choices must be accounted for. That is a law God Himself established and will not change; if He disobeyed the laws of the universe He would actually cease to be God. (That is also a truth the Book of Mormon helps me understand.)

Jesus Christ chose to not only die but also suffer on behalf of all the wrong choices everyone would make. Only through Him could the laws of the universe be satisfied. Only then could He offer us a way to return to God. Because of Him, we can choose to turn around and go back to God.

Without Christ’s sacrifice, we would only step further and further away from God throughout life. With His sacrifice, we can return to God over and over. Because of His sacrifice, we can get better at choosing happiness.

I am so grateful Jesus died for my sins because He makes everything about life easier now and shows me the way back to my heavenly home with God.

That is just a starting place! There is so much more to learn in the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. A great place to start is here: Gospel Study Guide: Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Happy Easter!

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