It’s Here! Easter has arrived. The longing for this day through forty days of Lent ends in the celebration of the greatest event in the earth’s history: the resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus, the Christ. Hallelujah!
While some of the traditions of Easter follow ancient celebrations of spring after a cold, long winter of hibernation, it is fitting that both occasions occur simultaneously. The stores are replete with bunnies and baby chickens and Easter eggs, symbols of new birth, the church removes its purples and displays white for this day and green in its vestments. At least that’s the tradition. But, as we know, our culture is simplifying things, and most contemporary services I know, there is electronic music, a screen displaying words, and no sign of the formality of vestments and banners and color-changing drapings on pulpits, if indeed pulpits still exist. This is not a criticism, mainly a show of change. We certainly won’t see Easter bonnets this morning, but “come as you are to the Master” informality. Churches today will overflow with cultural Christians who worship at Christmas and Easter. Families will gather, children will eat too much candy, and lives will be brightened. But the life-changing event of Easter should be the main focus. My prayer is that lives will be saved today for eternity.
The message is celebratory. Jesus has conquered death, once and for all, for those who believer in Christianity and hail Jesus as the King of King and Lord of Lords. Statistics say fewer people say they believe in patriotism and spiritual things these days, yet new churches are springing up all over the place. Our people may be a bit jaded against many cultural things. Perhaps it is because they’ve seen signs of betrayal, hypocrisy, and even decadence. But with the decline in these things, crime, drug use, protesting, and huge cultural canceling examples are the order of the day. I heard Cardinal Dolan say yesterday, and also the Mayor of New York, that maybe things have to get really “bad” for people to return to the faith of their fathers.
Surely the times in which Jesus lived were equal to ours. The Roman Empire ruled with iron will. The hatred between people groups was equal to the racism of today: Jews against Gentiles, hatred for the Samaritans, and the conquering of territories in warfare. Not much is different today. There is fighting in Lebanon, and Israel, Russia and Ukraine, and conflict in our streets. There is vast difference between the rich and the poor. There was zero tolerance for free speech in Roman times. It is threatened today in America. There were injustices in the courts, just as there are today. Basically, there’s nothing new under the sun.
But, that ‘s not the eternal message of God. He created man with free will, and sin has resulted. By not putting God first in our lives throughout the ages, there has been enmity and strife. But God loved the world enough to send us the Savior, and although the Old Testament of sacrifices for sin attempted to make things right, it took the death and resurrection of the Lamb of God, to provide eternal confidence that sin was paid for through Jesus’ sacrifice.
Take the time to read Genesis, Exodus, John, and Revelation and see the unfolding saga of God’s redemptive plan, and look at what is to come as portrayed in John’s Revelation. When Jesus returns to earth, and many feel that is an imminent event, all knees will bow to Jesus: some in honor and thanksgiving and worship, and others in mortal and eternal fear, because the judgment of a holy and righteous God will reveal one of two outcomes to Jesus’ presence among us. It is called the Second Coming, and Christians rejoice because Easter is just a foretaste of what is to come.
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