EASTER RECAP

I truly enjoyed writing a Lenten series.  As usually happens, the series did not go where I thought it would. 

My first writing, March 4, was to be on Passover.  I even looked it up on a Jewish website.  Then I started writing and somehow the words For The Third Time became the title.  I wondered how the disciples did not get it.  I have thought this before, but they had been with him three years.  Yet, Jesus still had to tell them three times.  I quickly realized I am no different than the disciples.  I sure do not get it the first time around.  Nor the second.  Sometimes not even the third.

March 11 blog, Glory and Anger, was to be on Jesus’ glorious entry into Jerusalem and his anger in the temple.  I was excited to write about the commotion his turning over those tables would have caused.  But somehow, the anger of the Pharisees stood out.  They were angry as they saw their source of income and their power slipping away.  Soon, they were angry enough to kill.  Anger can lead a person away from God.

By the time the March 18 blog, Gotcha, was finished, I realized this series was not to be the normal Easter series.  Like the “How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?” questions, the blogs were not going to be logical.  Instead, this series was to be the opposite.  I needed to look at all that was going on around Jesus.  I needed to picture the crowds.  I needed to figure out why people acted as they did.  I needed to figure out why I act like I do. 

Anointing and Betrayal, March 25, told about a woman whose generosity was called waste and a man whose greed consumed him.  Anointing and Betrayal gave me goals.  I will strive to be as generous as the woman who anointed Jesus.  I will strive to never allow earthly greed to turn me away from God’s love and blessings.

I hope Jesus and His Own, April 1, made you think about the emotions of the Last Supper.  This one evening contained tradition, gentleness, drama, and the realization that lives were going to change.  We should take Communion with reverence as we honor the Lord’s Last Supper.

The April 8 blog, They Slept – They Missed It, tells how the disciples missed the opportunity to pray with and support Jesus.  They did not hear Jesus freely agree to His Father’s will.  My heart feels sorry for the disciples and they must have felt so guilty when they looked back at that evening, but I understand.  I go to sleep saying prayers and my eyes get heavy while I am reading the Bible.  What prayer did I not say?  What verse did I not understand?  I slept.  I missed it.

I did not want to write the blog for April 15, NO!  NO!  I DO NOT WANT TO SEE THIS!   We want to make Easter pretty.  We want nice pastel colors and flowers and new clothes and candy and the Easter bunny.  But this part of the Easter Story is not pretty and we must realize how Jesus suffered.  Remember, he was human!  He felt the spit land on him.  He felt each strike to his back.  He felt the thorns poke into his scalp.  He felt humiliated when he was stripped.  He felt abandoned.  But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.  This is God’s Son!!!  HE DID THIS FOR ME!  HE DID THIS FOR YOU!  HE DID THIS FOR EVERYONE!  But it was not pretty.  Never forget that. 

Where Did He Go?  The Guards, The Women, and The Disciples, April 22, is written to help you see the confusion.  The guards would have been afraid to report the body missing.  I am sure they figured their head would be missing if they didn’t come up with an alternate truth.  They found a way out.  They took a bribe and lied.  The women were in shock.  The arrest, the trial, the crucifixion, and the body being placed in the tomb happened so quickly they were trying to put it all together.  The disciples were confused and afraid.  Would they be killed also?  Were they to go back to their “before Jesus called me” life?  After all, Jesus said, “It is finished.”  What now?

What now?  We are to be disciples.  We are to allow Jesus to work with us!

EASTER RECAP

Jesus said, “It is finished.”

Jesus died and was laid in a tomb,

BUT He is risen and sits at the right hand of God

It  IS  NOT  finished!

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

John 14:1-4, 6-7

HE LIVES!  HE HAS A PLACE PREPARED!

It  IS  NOT  finished!

AMEN