Picture it; ever been in a haunted house ride and it seems so dark, scary and we’re wondering if there’ll ever be an end to the mayhem? Where’s that light at the end?
Toronto had a Canadian National Exhibition back in the day at the end of the summer and their haunted house ride seemed like it would never end.. until it did... The doors opened and there was light!!!
Forward Friday's Pilgrimage to Easter is testament to the greatest love story ever told; if there was ever a time to take heart, allow courage to infiltrate our minds is now because this story is hopeful and the sun does truly shine! The doors to new life opened then and is still available for us now! As always, there’s good medicine at the end!!
Let’s Get Into This:
The picture is pretty bleak: Jesus has just breathed his final breath, has been taken down from the cross and is laid in the tomb and the stone is rolled in front of it.
I mean it is crazy: his followers have scattered, the confidence of many has been put in limbo, was He really who He said He was??
Here we are at the front door of Easter weekend, Good Friday and life, while a little more normal is still nothing like we could have envisioned a few short years ago.
Life is not what it used to be or.. maybe what we have been experiencing has acerbated latent things in us.. Fear... dread.....
All of this could make even the strongest one stop and pause and ask, “Is there hope in the middle of this”?
I’ve been reading a lot of the account of the Easter story these past few weeks and the contrast in tone, drama could be something that we could draw courage from in light of what we as community's, cities, countries, our world still are facing presently.
The Sunday leading into Easter week was/is generally considered Palm Sunday. Jesus rides into Jerusalem and there is such excitement, joy, anticipation for the future and palm branches (even coats lined the street) lined the road that he rides in on and it is a great day.
Except that 4 days later, he is betrayed by one of his own disciples and it brings us to Good Friday.
I can only imagine his follower’s bewilderment at the sudden turn of events; their leader, shepherd, friend is arrested, beaten, flogged, whipped, falsely accused and from 5 days earlier when the crowds are hailing Jesus as the rescuer, the crowd is now saying to crucify him instead of the thief who earned that place.
Good Friday and it's memory; a place of a scourge, a curse, a devastating moment; watching Jesus being nailed to a cross, pierced in the side with a sword, one of the ugliest and most reviled ways to kill a person is happening and the world as they knew it at that time is about to go dark.
The world as they knew it at that time is about to go dark.
For some today, these 2 years has raised fears, concerns, pain of loss, relationships, trust in our governments and others etc.
Isolation has been hazardous to our mental, social, spiritual well being and created gaping holes in our social fabric.
There are other scenarios that could be considered dark but I am hopeful because on the back-end of a terrible Friday, a very sad and lonely Saturday, Sunday comes.
I Think The Words That Are Continually Striking To Me,
“Don’t be afraid!” he (The angel) said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.
What A Difference A Week Makes!!!
From a Sunday of joy to a Friday of dark and utter gloom to the light of a new dawn, a new Sunday to say that Hope is alive!
Easter gives me hope and I'm glad that it's not a politician, doctor that does that for me.
So, Some Good Medicine
Hope
Hope is crazy, funny thing: it can give even the quietest, shy, fearful, not quite sure if we can stand straight in our shoes inner strength because we have this hope that things are turning around for us.
A man came home from the Vietnam War, burned over 75% of his body. He and other wounded military were in the trauma unit.
He said that most wives and girlfriends who, when they saw their man burned and badly wounded, they turned and walked away. Most of those men died shortly after.
His wife looked at him in his remaining eye and said, " I love you and can't wait to build our life together!"
Hope changed everything!!
Hope to dream, hope to believe, hope to gain strength, hope to put my trust in a bedrock foundation, hope to not just guess but strength in the midst of chaos. Not blindly walking but walking knowing that Easter weekend means my faith didn’t die on a gloomy, dark Friday but came back to life with full power, full strength, full virtue, full of Hope on Easter Sunday because Jesus is Hope!
Redemption:
Peter, the one who said he would go to the wall for Jesus, then denied him 3 times, Peter who cut off the ear of one of the guards when Jesus was being arrested, that same one who coiled away when a young woman asked him if he was part of Jesus followers, has his redemption moment.
After the resurrection, Jesus meets Peter in such a personal way and moment and restores him.
It reminds us that Jesus is willing to do the same thing for us today. That is, He’s willing to forgive and forget– referring to us – for all the times in the past that we’ve disappointed Him or fallen short. Just like He did with Peter.
Thomas, the doubting one, another one of Jesus followers who deserts him, is the show me one. And yet, Jesus shows himself to Thomas and Thomas puts his hands in Jesus's wounds and he comes alive.
Thomas, the disciple, who wouldn’t believe in Christ’s resurrection until he put his hand into Jesus’s wounds. He went on to die spreading the gospel in Persia and India. God gave us free choice, He doesn’t want us to be robots, He could have made us like that, but wanted us to choose for ourselves. You learn and grow by questioning.
Faith
It's hard to not notice what hope will do for a person. Notice the disciples and followers of Jesus after the resurrection.
Things changed.
That there was an empty tomb three days after Jesus's body had been placed in it, though it had been constantly guarded by Roman soldiers;
Jesus appeared to hundreds of people in numerous places for almost seven weeks after His crucifixion;
I believe that in the chaotic world we are living in, we need an anchor, something strong to hold us, a Rock of Truth and Belief to stand on to help us in and through the turbulence of the seasons of life because it really matters!
Fearlessness
Our society in the past 2 years has seen a degree of social engineering of fear that has decimated, muted, frozen, scared many, rarely seen in our world's history. It seems like there is a malaise that for some is hard to break out of....
While not the same thing, those hours after the death of Jesus threw people, including and especially His followers into a lurch, about what was happening and most importantly, what was going to happen in the future.
But Hope Happened:
Something huge did happen to suddenly and forever turn all the cowering, cowardly disciples into bold believers, proclaiming a risen Messiah they were willing to be tortured and die for.
While I draw hope from my wife, my family, my friends and that is of great comfort as I’m sure it can be for you, even more so to remember is that we’re not alone. even with all the challenges of change over this past 2 years, one thing remains certain: the resurrection of Jesus Christ brings new life, new hope, and a new future!
This blessed Hope of Easter Weekend helps me now in the middle of this crisis and will help me on the other side when this and other moments because we/I will always need Hope!
Jesus is Risen-He is Risen Indeed!! What an incredible Pilgrimage to Easter!! Dave
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