It’s here. It’s Sunday. It’s Resurrection Day. The waiting is over.
As Keith Green put it:
Hear the bells ringing
They’re singing Christ is risen from the dead
The angel up on the tombstone
Said He has risen, just as He said
Quickly now, go tell his disciples
That Jesus Christ is no longer dead
Joy to the world, He has risen, hallelujah
He’s risen, hallelujah
He’s risen, hallelujah
Hallelujah
Good Friday, Silent Saturday and Resurrection Sunday mark the three most important days in the history of humanity. We will never forget them. How could we?!
But here is something I notice on some level. Continue reading
Above is a painting by Jean-Baptiste Jouvenet entitled Descent From the Cross.
For the Christian church, we identify this week as the most important week in the history of humankind – Holy Week.
In particular, we have Maundy Thursday, focused on the Last Supper of Christ with the twelve. This is followed by Good Friday, whereas Christ is sacrificed upon the cross for humanity’s sin. Next we have Holy Saturday (or Silent Saturday), a day that many evangelicals might not call to mind, the day that lies between the death and resurrection of Christ. Lastly, we have Easter Sunday, the day of celebrating Christ’s defeat over death through resurrection.
I want to examine something that often gets taught and preached about Christ’s death on the cross. While it seems this perspective would be true, I think it falls short of the full story of Scripture. Continue reading
A man walked into a large hall. He had just endured a sleepless night. Betrayed by a confidant; abandoned by his closest friends.
He was spat at, whipped, beaten, bloodied, mocked. They shoved a crown of curse upon his brow. Continue reading
Today is a day celebrated unlike any other amongst the Christian community. Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.
It is a story we know, oh, so well. Maybe we’re too familiar with it? We know what all the fuss is about now.
Perhaps we could try and get in the shoes of the original disciples, to feel their devastation and disillusionment. Because that is part of the Easter story. Complete dejection that their hopes and dreams had fallen flat on their face, only to see the resurrected one come alive. If only we could feel something of what they felt without knowing the end of the story. Just like The Lord of the Rings might take on a whole different meaning if we were not sure Frodo would make it to Mount Doom to throw the ring into the molten lava.
And while the resurrection story readily reaches us two millennia later, we must remember it took some time for the message to ring across Palestine of the first century. Many would have likely been lamenting with the psalmist of Psalm 13 – How long, oh Lord? Will you forget me forever?
So how does this Easter story still catch us off guard? How does it throw us for a loop? Because that’s what happened long ago. Nothing played out as the disciples imagined. We must truly believe this resurrection account of the Christ should catch us off guard in some form or fashion, should both dash our hopes and then revitalize them with something more unique than first imagined. At least that was the effect 2000 years ago.
That happened for me this morning. Something crept up a little unexpectedly. Continue reading
The Prodigal Thought 