Grown men don’t cry, right? And not cricketers; tough guys with wrists of steel and muscular arms! But this morning I looked at pictures of the Australian captain, vice-captain and also their coach, tears flowing from their eyes, ashamed at what they’d done! Sad, how they had humiliated their country, and weeping for a mistake they regretted.

They were broken and repentant.

And then I look at pics a few days back of our Lalu, sentenced for fourteen years for a fodder scam where he had stolen money meant for the public.But what was the look in his eyes?

Anger and dismay on getting caught!

The act of stealing, of cheating, of killing is not what many of us are repentant about but the fact that we hadn’t covered our tracks better, that we didn’t have a better alibi, a better cover up, or a better lawyer!

“Daddy!” cries the scamster as he is taken from courtroom to jail, “I regret not having forged the cheque better!”

“I feel sorry!” say the man to his friends as he is led off on a rape charge, “That I didn’t give the girl a few lakhs more to shut up!”

The list goes on. But as long as one is not repentant, there is no forgiveness from a God above!

On Easter, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, who died that anything we have done in our lives, any wicked deed, lie we’ve said, even murder we have committed is forgiven, but only if the one who has committed the deed feels sorry about it. And if you are sorry, then the punishment for that deed has been looked after by the death on the cross.

Just imagine a scene where a murderer is hanged and after death walks down to the fiery furnaces of hell, but as he nears those gates, he hears footsteps behind, and looks back to see an angel, “Where are you going?” asks the angel.

“To hell for what I have done on earth!” says the man sadly.

“You don’t belong to hell, but to heaven!” says the angel, turning him round and leading him to the celestial gates of heaven.

“Heaven!” whispers the shaken murderer, “There must be a mistake!”

“Didn’t you pray for forgiveness?” asks the angel.

“Yes I did!” says the man, “But what about my punishment for the crime I committed?”

“That punishment has been looked after by the man who died on the cross,” says the angel.

“Can I go to the cross and thank that man?” asks the happy murderer.

“That man paid for your crime with his death, then rose from death on the third day!” says the angel.

And that’s what Easter is all about, the rising from death of Christ who took the punishment for our lying, our cheating, even our killing, after we are repentant for what we have done..!

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