One of my favourite stories is about a church congregation in Cameroon hearing the Easter account in their own language for the first time. As the passage is read, some of the older women begin to weep. Afterwards, they approach the reader and demand to know where the story is from:
‘We have never heard anything like it before! We didn’t know there was someone who loved us so much that he was willing to suffer and die like that – to be crucified on a cross to save us!’
What’s incredible is that these women had heard the story before. Year after year, it had been read to them in French – but they hadn’t understood it. It was only now, when they heard the story in Yambetta, their own language, that they were able to grasp this amazing truth: Jesus died for them.
As you remember Jesus’ death and celebrate his resurrection this week, you do so in the company of Christians around the world. Why not praise God especially for those who are hearing about the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday in their own language for the first time this year, and for the many people who will put their trust in Jesus as a result? Ask him to help you see his sacrifice with as much awe and wonder as the women in this story.
Written by Bryony Lines for Wycliffe Bible Translators
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