Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…The Easter season is upon us. And unlike the Christmas Season, this season gets almost no attention from today’s culture, the media or the merchandise mongers. In fact, outside of the church setting, I don’t know if I’ve heard anyone even mention the upcoming event. Christmas gets top billing, not because it’s Christ’s birthday, but because our culture has turned the event into a shopping, buying-mania, and even our economic health is predicated on the amount of money being spent on the newest, latest, greatest fads or gadgets. But Easter… not so much pomp and hype. Come to think of it, I haven’t even heard about an Easter parade. But for those of us who know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we know this is the beginning of the week that changed the world.
We are told in Ephesians 1:3-5,9-11: “Long ago, even before he created the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure. God’s secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. And this is his plan: At just the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ – everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received and inheritance from God, for he chose us from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago.”
From the verses above, it clearly talks about God’s “plan” and how all things happen just as he decided long ago. Then Matthew 25:34 tells us that God’s plan for us is eternal, that it will keep playing out even after the world ends: “Then the King will say to those on the right. ‘Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
So let me propose a scenario. Let’s look at God’s “plan” as an eternal morality play of good vs. evil. We are born into it, and we become participants in the play, unbeknown to us, and contribute in one way or the other by the choices we make. Bear in mind, God is not only omnipotent and omniscience, but he is also Sovereign. Therefore, his eternal plan is playing out just as he foresaw it long ago, and we, as the players, are contributing to it by the (free-will) choices we make.
So let’s look at the original Easter week and see how people played out their roles. On Palm Sunday Jesus, sitting on a donkey, rode victoriously into Jerusalem. The town was bursting at the seams with eager Passover visitors hoping to get a glimpse of him. I suspect all of them had heard of him by this time, and perhaps some had seen, or possibly even experienced, his miracles. But no doubt the people were ready to see their hero because when they heard the news of his impending arrival, throngs of exuberant visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God! Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel.” (John 12:13) This just goes to show you that an exuberant crowd can change its loyalty very quickly.
The Jewish leaders were concerned about Jesus being there and becoming the center of attention. The Roman soldiers were concerned about Jesus being there and the likelihood that the crowds could get worked up in a frenzy, perhaps even creating a disturbance. Bear in mind, the Roman soldiers didn’t take kindly to putting down disturbances. So let me propose another scenario.
Do you suppose the Roman authorities might have approached the Jewish leaders with this proclamation: “This city is packed with Passover guests and we know this Jesus of yours is a rebel -rouser. The last thing we want is to have to put down a civil disturbance. Therefore, it will be your responsibility to make sure things don’t get out of hand. Keep an eye on him. Keep him secluded. Because if a riot does break out, we are going to close down the Temple and there will be no Passover celebration.” Could you imagine the fear this would have put in the Pharisees? The thought of Passover being cancelled! What could be worse? “
So, how do we get Jesus out of the way to be sure he doesn’t cause any trouble”, they ask among themselves. “I know”, comes the answer. “I’ve heard about that one disciple; I think his name is Judas. He might be vulnerable if we offer him a bribe.”
Now at an event this big, we can always count on one uninvited guest showing up. And that would be the Prince and power of this world, satan. And what an opportunity for him. In fact, this looks like it can be his finest hour. He had already primed Judas for the taking. John 13:2 tells us: “It was time for supper and the Devil had already enticed Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to carry out his plan to betray Jesus.” “Luke 22:3 tells us “he went over to the leading priests and captains of the Temple guard to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them.” This is a perfect example of one of satan’s most insidious methods of deception: putting his thought in our mind and allowing us to think it is our thought . Who knows? Maybe Judas thought he was doing the right thing to save Passover.
For those of us who have seen “The Passion of the Christ”, the brutal torment Christ experienced on Friday of that week gives us a glimpse of the horrific pain and suffering he had to endure on the cross as he took the sins of the world upon himself to pay the ransom for OUR sins. When Christ said “It is Finished” (John 19:30) , his death brought an end to the Old Covenant. But the New Covenant doesn’t begin until Easter Sunday, when Jesus broke the bonds of death by walking out of the tomb. I’ve included this very powerful presentation of these events. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cikenKl92Og
You see…God’s plan was always for Jesus Christ to do for us what we proved we were “utterly helpless” of doing for ourselves. Because God is loving, merciful and full of grace, he did whatever had to be done so that we might spend eternity with him, Jesus and all other Christ-followers. This Gift of Grace is available to anyone who will accept it, “regardless of who we are or what we have done.” (Romans 3:22) While many in this world are ignorant of this truth and have no idea who God is, let alone who Jesus is, our charge is to carry forth this Easter message and to pray for those who are still lost.
I’d like to close with Apostle Paul’s eloquent Easter message found in Romans 3:23-25. “For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.” As we play out our role in God’s eternal morality play, my prayer is that we all will commit our self to standing for good, and sharing this message of love, hope and salvation with someone we know who is still suffering.
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May God bless you abundantly, and Happy Easter to one and all.
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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