Chocolate Bunnies

I heard a sermon yesterday that really shook me into the reality of why we celebrate Easter.  It centered around Jesus’ last words on the cross when He anxiously “cried with a loud voice, saying Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?  that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46 KJV)  The Pastor declared that at that moment in time “Jesus endured the greatest personal challenge ever to face mankind: Loneliness!”  This was the first time in all of eternity that Jesus, the Son of God, was separated from His Father.  When I thought on that powerful idea and dwelled on it for a moment, I was struck with the immense pain and despair that Jesus must have felt… And that agonizing pain and total despair was expereinced because of you and me!

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (NKJV)  Jesus became sin itself and carried every sin past, present and those to come on Himself.  In that position He suddenly discovered that He was in the absence of God’s presence until three days later when He conquered sin and death and took “the keys of hell and of death” away from the enemy of our souls.  (Revelation 1:18 KJV)  At that point in history He “rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of his Son, whom he loves.” (Colossians 1:13 God’s Word ©)

It was the stark reality of not only the tremendous physical suffering and pain that He went through for us, but also the heart-wrenching mental anguish and emotional trama that had to have come upon Jesus as He realized that He was absent from His Father’s presence for the very first time in His life.  I can hardly imagine the absolute emptiness that He felt.  I believe that this experience was probably worse than any other affliction that He had to endure in order to give us the legal right to be freed from our sins.

As I walked down one of the main isles of our local pharmacy on the way to the back counter the other day, in order to pick up a prescription for my wife, I noticed that the shelves where lined with a large variety of Easter candy selections.   I had to laugh and shake my head as I thought that here we are about to celebrate and honor the remembrance of the greatest event in the history of mankind and the world celebrates it with Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies… totally ignorant of the real reason for the life-changing event that happened over 2000 years ago when Jesus suffered excruciating pain in order to give mankind the legal path to be right with God again!

But you know what?  The same thing happened among those who should have been in the “know” when Jesus entered Jerusalem the week of His death.  The people of that city flocked to the streets, cheered and laid palm branches down in His path mistakenly thinking that He was going to set up a new earthly kingdom like the one their patriarchal father David did hundreds of years before.  A few days later they completely changed their tune and were shouting “Crucify him!” (Matthew 27:22 Good News Bible)

How are you going to celebrate the remembrance of Jesus’ action taken solely for our benefit this year?  I would strongly encourage you to take some time each day this week to refresh your memory of the events of Easter week through the reports found in the pages of the four Gospels.  As you read them, allow yourself to feel the passion, the emotion, the pain and then the ultimate triumph of these events that happened many years ago.  Then rejoice and celebrate on Easter Sunday with a renewed zeal for the exciting life that God has provided for us and wants us to share with those who don’t yet understand what Jesus did just for them!  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”