We can think about the death of Jesus in two ways. The first is cosmic. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son….” On Palm Sunday the Pharisees lamented, “Look, the world has gone after Him!” When Jesus is crucified, the whole world is judged.

So what are we still doing here? With two millennia nearly passed since the death and resurrection of Jesus, why does the world go on, with things seeming to get worse, not better? Why not end this world and get on with the new one?

The reason is that God also wants to deal with each one of us personally. The death of Jesus is cosmic, but it is also personal. You, in all your uniqueness, are part of the story.