It was 36 years ago in 1983 that the law first insisted that seat belts be worn by those travelling in the front seats of vehicles using public roads in the UK. I was only in my early twenties, but I do remember that some people resisted the change at the time, just as they had when the compulsory wearing of crash helmets on motorcycles became law a decade earlier.

Having grown up as the son of a nurse who treated more motorcyclists than she cared to remember for the injuries they sustained after suffering riding accidents without the protection of helmets, that law seemed like little more than common sense to me. Much the same could be said about the wearing of seat belts.

Now I'm not that much of a linguist, and I know precious little Norman French, but I do know that – like other acts on our statute books – the requirement that we wear seat belts was signed into law by our reigning monarch with the words, "La Reyne le vault" – the queen wills it. That should come as something of an embarrassment to her husband following the extensive coverage he's had in the press during the past week.

Media interest might have been considerably diminished had the Duke have made it his business to get in touch with the people injured in that high profile road traffic accident and offer them an apology and his best wishes. In the event it has been the Queen herself who has taken the initiative and directed a lady in waiting to make contact.

Maybe we tut tut with disapproval as we read our The Mail, but how different is any of us? The law, not of the United Kingdom but of the universe, was made by God. That law was broken by people he loved. Many of us know the story of The Fall – Eve and Adam taking the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden – and even if we don't know the story we, can't help but be aware of the brokenness of the world in which we live.

But John's gospel speaks of how much God loves the world (all of us, in other words). God made the law. We broke that law. The only way forward was for God the lawmaker to become directly involved in unravelling the mess. Because of his immense love for us, God did that in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, God's son, had done no wrong yet he paid the penalty for what you and I have done. And that single act of love - Jesus' offering of himself on the cross at Calvary - opens the way to eternal life for us.

The prophet spoke with unerring accuracy when he said, "he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed."

Rev Martin Williams, a Christian Minister based in Rampside