Jesus cares for us - Easter Sunday 2026

Our Easter weekend services commenced on Thursday evening in an olive grove with Jesus’ arrest, progressed to the sombre remembrance of his crucifixion on Good Friday and today the joy of the Resurrection. Our Lenten theme of “Jesus Cares” also reaches its climax as Jesus demonstrates how he cares for us. He provides an example of how to care by showing his love for his disciples. At the Last Supper he knew that he was to be betrayed but showed his humility by washing their feet, even sharing a morsel of food with Judas which was usually a sign of friendship and then in the olive garden when he sought their company showing understanding of their weakness in falling asleep. This shows us today the importance of standing by others who need us, selflessly and with understanding and even like Jesus on occasion sacrificially. Then, Jesus showed how much he cared for us by obeying God, following the will of God and having faith in Him even though the immediate outcome seemed grim, a painful death on the cross. When he explored in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and discerned that there was no other way to achieve saving mankind than Him dying for us, he cared enough for us to accept God’s will. The message for us this Easter is to not despair that our world seems in chaos and evil people appear to hold the ascendancy, because Jesus showed us that God is always in control, and that we must have faith and discern the role he wants us to play even though we often cannot see beyond immediate consequences.Ian Olver