In his Easter message, Bishop Jonathan reflects on the contrast between Jesus' selfless act upon the cross to the self assertion that leads to war and destruction.
Read his message in full below or watch here
For many of us in recent days, our minds will have been focused on events in the Middle East, following the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran.
The increasing willingness of major nations to use military force in seeking to achieve their goals, including of course Russia in Ukraine, rather than diplomacy, is a matter of grave concern.
The unintended consequences on the world economy demonstrate just some of the ways in which such action has a far wider impact than those initiating military action may have considered.
I am somewhat wary of religious leaders turning themselves into geopolitical pundits, rushing in where even angels might fear to tread.
But I would urge us all to consider the spiritual dimension of what is taking place, and to ask ourselves questions about what has been driving this shift away from a more rules-based approach to world order, including an apparent need to reassert our sense of identity in the face of a changing and challenging world.
You can insert whatever name you like into the slogan, “Make (our country) Great Again”, be it the USA or Russia or whoever else, but such slogans always seem to be about putting someone else down, in the hope that we can come out on top.
This Easter, may I encourage us all to reflect once more on the central events of our faith, and on the willingness of the Son of God to lay down his life for our sakes.
Here was the polar opposite of self-assertion, the supreme embodiment of self-giving for the sake of others.
It appeared utterly foolish to those who looked on, not least to the powers-that-be of the day, but it was of course gloriously vindicated by our Lord’s resurrection from the dead, on Easter Day.
The lesson of history is that self-assertion almost always leads to defeat and destruction in the end. That was what Jesus warned when he foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, which was razed to the ground following a failed rebellion just a generation later.
Of course, there can be times when the use of force to resist and overcome aggression is absolutely necessary, as it was in Europe and across the world in the 1940s.
But those times are few and such action should only be undertaken when all the options for achieving a peaceful resolution have been exhausted, because once the genie of war has been released, the consequences can never be predicted or contained.
If we are to help find a way through the challenges we are facing both as a nation and as a Church, then it can only be through our willingness to approach our differences in the spirit of Christ.
This means counting others better than ourselves, listening to and seeking to understand others’ anxieties and concerns, but also being willing to robustly challenge hatred and injustice wherever they are found.
Such is the way of the kingdom of God, because ultimately it allows God to do his work of redemption and resurrection in us and in our world.
May we know the peace and hope of the risen Christ this Easter and always.
The Rt Rev Dr Jonathan Gibbs
Bishop of Rochester
April 2026