Tag: Easter

Where It All Begins

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Yesterday was Easter, the day for celebrating the resurrection of the Son of God. History turns on this event. The world looks the way it does today because of this event more than just about any other. It’s a remarkable story. Today, let’s spend some time reflecting on just what it means for us that Jesus rose from the dead.

Where It All Begins

Jesus was dead…and then He wasn’t. 

If you were to take that statement, get rid of Christianity entirely, and drop it into any other context, it wouldn’t make any sense. At all. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Across the centuries of human history, various different religious movements offered up theories and ideas about what might lie on the other side of the grave. But none of them had anything like the resurrection of Jesus as a part of their frame of reference. Now, some of them developed something like it after Jesus’ resurrection, but not before. This is because we didn’t have a category for something like that. Instead, when Jesus was buried late in the afternoon on the Friday when He died, everyone expected Him to stay put. 

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Digging in Deeper: Luke 24:18-24

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“The one named Cleopas answered him, ‘Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that happened there in these days?’ ‘What things?’ he asked them. So they said to him, ‘The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet powerful in action and speech before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. But we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem Israel. Besides all this, it’s the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women from our group astounded us. They arrived early at the tomb, and when they didn’t find his body, they came and reported that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they didn’t see him.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

On the third day, Jesus rose. In three days, should our Lord tarry, we will celebrate that great truth with joy and gladness. Should He not tarry, we’ll celebrate His great return which will be even better. Yet the day it happened, nobody expected it. Nobody. Not a single person. Even the people who were witnesses to the risen Lord at first couldn’t recognize Him because they didn’t even have a category for His being alive. As we prepare to celebrate the best news of all, let’s reflect on one of the more humorous scenes after the resurrection.

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Digging in Deeper: John 18:28

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“Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They did not enter the headquarters themselves; otherwise they would be defiled and unable to eat the Passover.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Everybody knows the Pharisees and other religious leaders of the Jews were the bad guys in the Gospels. They were the bad guys because of their hatred for Jesus. Beyond His constantly presenting the Law in ways they didn’t understand and wouldn’t accept, though, the thing that most enraged them about Him was His constantly pointing out their hypocrisy. They hated that. A lot. And yet, we have scenes like this one in which their hypocrisy in displayed in technicolor, yet their own screens seemed to be set only for black and white because they can’t see it. Let’s talk about the glaring hypocrisy of the Jewish religious elite and what it might mean for us.

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Morning Musing: Mark 14:33-36

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“He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. He said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake.’ He went a little farther, fell to the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, ‘Abba, Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We can easily imagine the agony of the cross. At least, we think we can. You have perhaps seen Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and its portrayal of those awful events. (Fun fact: that was the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever until its total was eclipsed by…wait for it…Deadpool. And that tells you about all you need to know about where our culture is today.) Yet the agony of the ordeal of the cross began before Jesus experienced any of its physical horrors. Let’s take a look this morning at where Jesus’ sufferings really began in earnest as He prepared to give up His life for us.

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Morning Musing: Luke 19:37-40

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“Now he came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!’ Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

This morning finds us in one of those awkward in-between moments. We finished up our short series on how to get better at being rich yesterday. After Spring Break (which is next week, during which time I won’t have any posts going live except for my Easter Sunday message) we are going to start a new journey through Exodus about which I am pretty excited, and which will likely take us much of the rest of the year. That leaves us with four days (including today) to fill with something else. Given that Easter is on the near horizon, I thought we would take a little journey with Jesus to the cross and the empty tomb. We’ll start this morning with His triumphant ride into Jerusalem.

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