I reached my destination after an eight-hour walk – an Indian village nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Madres. A Wycliffe Bible translator had worked in this community more than 20 years, and during this time a Christian church had slowly emerged.
On Saturday I joined a pre-Easter worship service and knelt with over 400 Christians who had gathered in a simple, whitewashed adobe structure marked by a cross. As the congregation worshipped in a local dialect I could not understand, I wondered what stories of love and acceptance lay behind the commitment of these people to follow this Jesus who had been crucified.
I also thought of how my life was being transformed – by the love of parents who gave so freely to my needs, the love of a teacher who would not accept mediocrity and the love of a God who called me into a Christian community where forgiveness was a mark of discipleship made possible by the reconciling power of the Spirit.
By now my legs were numb, but I came to understand in a new way the transforming power of Jesus whose love had been so freely given to me in many ways, even when I did not understand or even accept this gift.
Years later I came across Soren Kierkegaard’s interpretation of I Peter 4:8, where he wrote, "The punishment of sin breeds new sin, but love [makes up for almost anything]." And I knew again that it was not punishment but love that made me open to the transforming power of the Jesus of Easter.
