Time for thought

Andrew Lambirth on how a powerful Easter message can be found in images of the Crucifixion

Easter is not just a time for bonnets and bunnies, but also for reexamining the fundamentals of life and faith. In the self-denial of Lent, whether we’ve given up chocolate or alcohol, or something even more difficult, we are offered the opportunity of facing and considering temptation, without the usual pretence that it’s not happening to us. Taking the easy way out is perhaps our most constant temptation, particularly rife in a society which dislikes rules and moral restraints, but Lent gives us the chance to confront that insidious habit. Also the chance to check — if only fleetingly — the wilder excesses of self-indulgence. And the purpose of all this self-denial? A taking stock, a pause, in which we are bidden to reflect upon the central tenet of a society that still holds (at least nominally) to Christianity: that Christ died to save us all.