Pastoral Letter 62

ANZAC DAY – Path of Life

1 John 3:16-24

Though Australia Day is our official national day, most Australians recognise that the 25^th of April, ANZAC Day, is far more important, celebrating the country’s national unity and what it means to be Australian. It is a legacy passed from generation to generation.

We celebrate affirming that the spirit of the ANZACs still lives. On 25 April we collectively remember those who served our nation bravely in wartime; we reflect on their commitment, courage, dedication and willingly sacrificing their lives for peace.

106 years ago, on the April 25, 1915 Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed at the strategic location on the shores of Gallipoli. We know the history well. And we know the result was a bloodbath in the ANZAC Cove. About 8000 Australians and 2700 New Zealanders were killed in action but their spirit stands for comradeship and service; so, these qualities of the ANZACs are celebrated every year on April 25. It is right and it is good to honour and remember those who fought, those who died and those who survived consistent with this spirit. It is important to remember that freedom is never won without cost. There was a huge loss and sadly, the battle of Gallipoli was lost.

Today, with sorrow and thankfulness, we remember before God all those who in the time of war offered their service and who gave their lives that we might live in freedom. We also remember their bravery, courage, determination, heroism and dedication. We remember all those who were ready to lay down their lives for a justified cause.

But as we recall today the price paid for our freedom, it is a good occasion to remember another historic moment in which a costly sacrifice was made for an even greater freedom. It was another battle fought and a heavy price paid. But, in this case, the battle was wonderfully won. Christ won our freedom from sin with a heavy cost. He took all of our wrongs and all of our pain by dying on the cross so that we could have life.

What a tremendous price He paid!

Just as we remember the courage of those men on the Turkish cliffs, 106 years ago, so the Christian faith focuses on the events in first century Palestine, especially on a Roman cross, where Jesus Christ died to pay the price for our freedom. Christianity is unique in that it guarantees true freedom from sin and death.

It was a high price that Jesus paid, but He said: “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again” (John 10:18). He willingly gave Himself to set us free. When He died it was a voluntary act on His part.

The Bible says: “Christ died for our sins”. His death on the cross was to free us from the oppression of sin and its penalty. He took all our sin and paid the penalty by dying on the cross for us. He rescued us from being prisoners of sin to be free and live life to the fullest. That is what Christianity is about – the death of the innocent for the undeserving.

The real bodily resurrection of Jesus is God’s warranty that His death was effective, and that guilty people can now be forgiven through Him.

Those for whom Jesus died must recognise their part in His death. They must renounce their sin, intrust their lives to Him, and live for Him.

In spite of the heavy cost, Jesus rescued us. His costly love continues to be the greatest gift anyone can ever receive!

Freedom is precious, for it is always won at great cost to others.

That is why it is good to pause, ponder and remember each ANZAC Day those who have served the cause of freedom. And it is good to pause and remember the greatest victory of all, won at the cross, where Jesus Christ died for us.

Freedom is ours because of costly sacrifice. It is a great price Jesus freely paid: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. This verse sets out clearly how much God loves us, what He has done about that and how we can have life forever with Him. The One who is known to be the capstone or cornerstone, the stone the builder rejected (Psalm 118:22) and according to Peter our salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under the heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:11-12). Jesus, the good shepherd lay downs His life for His sheep. He willingly gives His life to save and deliver them.

John in his first epistle writes saying Jesus Christ laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. In other words, he is talking about the ultimate sacrifice and the heavy cost Jesus paid to save us from sin and death and to give us life and freedom. John is urging us to follow His example and be ready to lay down our lives for the sake of others.

This ANZAC Day we remember those who fought and those who fell in wars and gave their lives that we believe were just; wars that needed to be fought for the sake of freedom.

Jesus made that decision to enter into the worst of human evil to endure hell on earth and the evil of the grave in order that we might be set free; set free from our enslavement to sin and set free from the torment of death.

Jesus’ battle on the cross has won a victory that is of eternal significance, and we who follow Him today carry on that same fight and take the good news of Jesus’ victory to a tormented world, not by force of arms but by forgiveness of sins. And so, Paul wrote to Timothy to think of himself as a soldier, dedicated to obedience, and he wrote of himself in his last days to say that he had run the race to the end, kept the faith, fought the good fight.

For most of us, what we face is not normally quite so dramatic, but just as soldiers face the possibility of death and discipline themselves so that, should that possibility become likely, they will be ready to do their duty, so we face the daily requirement of discipline; denying our own wants and desires in order to serve God and love others.

God only expects us to follow the path of life because He has Himself supplied everything we need to do through the resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus. Through the most significant event in the history of mankind, God has supplied us with the ability to take the path of life by developing a heart that delights in the things in which He delights.

ANZAC Day is not a day of celebration; on the contrary it is a day of commemoration. We honour and commemorate the heroes who fell for our freedom and gave their lives.

It is a solemn day, a day to remember.

It is a day to think about the dead.

But life is a path, a way forward. Even if life seems to be full of pain and suffering, in God’s presence we can have joy, the joy of salvation, the joy of hope for the future.

The opening petition of Psalm, which is known as the Golden Psalm, 16:1, “Preserve me O God”, is grounded in his trust in the Lord: “in thee do I put my trust”. We do not know the occasion of this composition, but the Psalmist’s life was often fraught with danger. Like our Lord Jesus, David knew betrayal by friends and deceit by enemies.

David, meantime, could look forward to better things to come. Because of Jesus’ ‘triumph o’er the grave’, God does not abandon His people to death. The Lord shows us the path of life, fullness of joy in His presence, and “pleasures evermore” (Psalm 16:11).

Today as we commemorate, let us remember that it is possible to live forever in joy, though physically we die. All we have to do is to walk the path put before us, the path of life as our ANZAC heroes did and willingly sacrificed their lives for the sake of freedom and justice.

Amen!