This year Easter falls on April 1st. We invite you and your neighbors to join us in about a month and a half as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection isn't just about a guy who was dead, coming back to life. It is after all, not the first time someone was brought back to life; there are both Old Testament and New Testament examples of those who were dead and were raised. The resurrection of Jesus though is special, unique. Paul tells us that this resurrection was of God himself, without any other agent and because of this, Paul tells us that the resurrection of Jesus is the basis or evidence of our hope in the gospel. If Jesus has not been raised, we are the most pitiable of all men. The resurrection then is one of the critical moments, one of the critical truths of our faith.
The resurrection though only comes – only can come after the death of Jesus. This death was both horrible and beautiful. Horrible in its method; beautiful in the love it reveals and the rejoicing it prepares. Jesus's death is the culmination of his faithful life to God. In the garden we find that Jesus would like to have avoided this death but at the same time he says, "not my will, but your will be done." This is the key to Jesus's life and the place of his death as part of that life. It is the capstone, the finishing of a life that was focused solely on the will of God.
The will of God was to reconcile the world to himself, which he did through the final death of Jesus, following a life of perfect obedience and faithfulness. God loves us and while we "were yet sinners," Christ died for us because God wants us – wants you – with him because that life is the best life for you. God seeks to bless, to heal, to cleanse, to restore.
Before Easter, before remembering the resurrection, we have an opportunity to stop, to reflect, to consider why it was that Jesus had to die. What was it that caused God to have Jesus lay down his life for us? In short, we were and are that cause. Our lives are not always lived in the same faithfulness toward God as Jesus's life was. We have separated ourselves from God by our own pride, our own meanness, our own selfishness. Having separated ourselves from God, we have no way to set ourselves right; to fix the breach between God and us. Our separateness from God causes or results in separateness from each other and so we find that we haven't caused only one breach, but multiple breaches and we struggle to repair these breaches and find that we cannot fully do this. Jesus died to repair all of those breaches, between God and us, and others and us.
Reflection prior to Easter is not limited to moroseness, to silently beating ourselves up for being "bad," to feel the burden we have given ourselves. Reflection prior to Easter also includes how we might move forward from where we are. Are there relationships we can heal, emotions we might soothe, others we might lift up? Having admitted to ourselves our role in bringing about the death of Jesus, we can sneak a glance at the resurrection and grace those around us with a bit of resurrection right now. Fasting is something that is often associated with the time before Easter – and so some will "give up" something during this period. Giving up something, denying ourselves intentionally so that we might join Jesus in his giving up of himself – even just a little bit can be a very shaping exercise. This is most effective if in giving that thing up, we transfer the time, the money, and energy into helping others, giving of ourselves truly in the service of others. As Paul tells us, in dying to ourselves, we look forward to resurrection with Jesu. Another, slightly different idea during this period is to not give something up, but to begin something new or to redirect our lives toward greater imitation of Jesus's love and faithfulness. Have you wanted to pray more regularly, more intentionally? Want to get those extra coats out of the closet and to the shelter? This period is an excellent time to make these adjustments to become more like Jesus and in these small ways of dying to ourselves, we point toward the promised resurrection offered to all persons.
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