On April 17 this year, the first Sunday following the first (paschal) full moon following the vernal equinox, Christians and near Christians around the world will commemorate Easter, in remembrance of the belief that their faith’s founder, in 36 A.D. or thereabouts, walked out of a tomb three days after being crucified just outside the city gates of Jerusalem.
Things could change, but there’s a good chance that April 17 will mark 52 days during which Vladimir Putin — perhaps named after Vladimir Ulyanov (a/k/a Lenin) — has been pouring out his wrath on the citizens and cities of Ukraine for reasons, well, that one can only surmise. Mr. Putin’s stated reason: he is finally putting an end to the neo-Nazism he claims has been on the rise in Ukraine since the end of World War II.
At least that’s Mr. Putin’s rationalization for Mariupol, Ukraine now resembling Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Other recipients of Mr. Putin’s brutality during his 22-year reign — Beirut, Aleppo, Chechnya, Georgia, others — presumably have justifications other than the rise of neo-Nazism.
So what in the world does Mr. Putin’s indiscriminate bombing and wanton murder of Ukrainians have to do with Easter? Well, Mr. Putin’s wrath toward the people of Ukraine which, for the better, the world has witnessed in all its fury and barbarism, is only a trifle compared to “the wrath of God [which] is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth….” (Romans 1:18). Christianity believes that the ultimate reason Jesus of Nazareth entered Earth’s time and space two millennia ago was to save believers from that very same wrath. Someone had to appease God’s anger; Jesus did so on the cross.
That’s the good news (“the gospel”) Christians will celebrate this Easter. The depredations Mr. Putin and Russia have wrought on Ukraine the seven weeks leading up to Easter, are but a dim shadow of what is to one day come. The Apostle Paul put it succinctly to the church in Thessalonica: “Jesus rescues us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:10).
On March 26, President Biden said of Vladimir Putin, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” Maybe so. If you believe Christianity’s God is sovereign and has a purpose for everything — even the human barbarity on display in Ukraine — a small sampling of the wrath of God which Christians believe they’ve been delivered from, may just provide a satisfactory explanation, a divine purpose if you will, for the horrific tragedy of Ukraine.
Happy Easter.
Joseph P. Caracappa is a lawyer and resident of Newtown.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Guest Opinion: Putin’s wrath will pale next to the one to come
