As I began to think about and prepare myself for the celebration of Easter Sunday tomorrow, I was immediately flooded with poignant childhood memories of finding Easter baskets filled with all kinds of yummy tasting delights in our living room, the pageantry of Easter morning service at our Catholic church and the festive, fun, and sometimes loud, extended family gathering that followed in the afternoon that captivated all of your senses… as soon as you walked into the door of my Grandma and Grandpa’s home… with the over-powering fragrance, flavor and warmth of exquisite, lovingly cooked Italian masterpieces.
But Easter had
always meant more to me than just the tangible holiday family traditions. I wasn’t really sure why… but I knew it had
special significance to my church and faith life. Today, I will whole-heartedly confess that I
didn’t really understand the nitty-gritty religious mechanics, doctrine and over-all
significance of the event until I started dating my wife-to-be in high
school.
She knew from
the start, that I was hungry to know more of the things of God and with great
insight, she gently and VERY patiently began to share the
understanding of her faith with me, by both precept and daily example…
And she accomplished it in such a way
that it quenched my thirst… but yet… left me with a huge appetite
for more!
So, this week,
with quite a few years of deeper study with both practical understanding and
experience under my belt, I thought about Easter Sunday and found myself… once
again… going back to my childhood days and picturing the big crucifix that always
caught my attention as it hung at the back of the altar at St Eugene’s
Cathedral. And it dawned on me that Easter
Sunday isn’t about Jesus on the cross… It is all about what happened after
He was taken off the cross. Easter or
what many of us refer to as Resurrection Sunday, is the remembrance
and celebration of the empty tomb and what happened (and is available
to all of us today) on the other side of the cross!
Therefore, it
was with that revelation that I opened up my Bible to the gospels and began to
read the initial reports of that morning’s events, as recalled by Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John. As I read these
news reports that were captured for us to read over the centuries since the
events, I felt the Lord instructing me to write down the words and phrases that
seemingly jumped off the page as I read from the different writers.
So, I did and
those words and phrases which were used repeatedly by many of the four writers
of the gospels were*:
“Suddenly”
“Don’t Be
Afraid”
“Don’t
Panic”
“Bright As
Lightening”
And that both
the angel and Jesus encouraged the women who came to anoint Jesus’ body, that they
“Remember What Jesus Had Told Them” before his death.
I’ve always
been taught that as Christians, we should spend the majority of our Bible reading
and study time in the epistles, as these books were written specifically to YOU
and ME… THE CHURCH! So, as I thought about the words and
phrases that stood out to me while reading the various chronicles of what the
disciples experienced on that morning - on the other side of the
cross… and facing an empty tomb… I realized that those few words
give us an outline of how we are to approach our Christian faith
on a daily basis.
As
Christians, the
epistles tell us who we are, what our rights and privileges are as adopted
sons and daughters of the Almighty God, and of the power and
authority we have in this world, that has been
delegated to us by Jesus**
Therefore, there
is never a good reason for us to be afraid or react in panic. For as we study and remember
and then act upon what Jesus tells us in His Word, we will
have many suddenly moments where the revelation and truth of
God’s counsel will shine forth in our darkest times and be the bright as
lightening revelation and answer that our hearts are crying out for.
And you
know? It is ALL available
to us on THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CROSS!
I pray that
your celebration of Resurrection Sunday this year will bring new confidence,
enthusiasm, peace, joy and a fresh personal commitment to
your daily adventures in Christ!
… And while you’re
at it… Save a See’s Bordeaux Egg for me! (Oooooh! Now, that brings back a TON of childhood
memories to me! – My mom got one for us 3 kids every year – through adulthood!)
*Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-11, Luke
24:1-12, John 20:1-18 - As read from my favorite God’s Word ©
Translation
**See: The Great Commission scriptures in
Mattew 28:16-20 and Mark 16:14-20.
