I hope you are excited about Easter coming up in nine days. It's not Peter Cottontail that excites me. That said, we will be taking our girls Easter egg hunting at Wald Park tomorrow morning.
When you think about it, Easter is the most amazing and exclusively defining holiday for Christians.
Celebrating Christmas is important. Jesus being born set the stage for all that was to come.
But what is so significant about a birth? Muhammad was born in 570 AD. Confucius was born in 551 BC. Buddha was born in 563 BC.
From a "religions of the world" perspective, Jesus being born is just a fact. He was born just like all the other founders of religions were.
It's not until you fast-forward thirty years from Jesus' birth that things really get cooking. That's when he began his ministry. Until he was 33.
Then, something happened.
Something amazing happened.
Two days from now we will celebrate Palm Sunday. It reminds us of Jesus riding triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey. The ordinary Jews were excited because they thought Jesus was the king who would deliver them from Roman oppression. They laid their garments and palm leaves on the road so the donkey's hooves didn't even have to touch the dirt. Jesus would save the Jews from the Romans like Moses had saved them from the Egyptians.
Think about the disciples. For three years they had followed Jesus. They left their families and their jobs to follow this man. They were nomads; never having a home to call their own once they followed Him. They never went truly hungry while following Jesus, but they never knew where their next meal was coming from.
Here was the payoff. Thousands of cheering people shouting "Hosanna!" to Jesus. The disciples had picked the right guy to follow. Jesus was the rock star; they were the band. Life was about to get very, very good.
Or was it?
Jesus had been saying something to them about getting handed over to the chief priests, flogged, and crucified. Then raising to life again the third day. The disciples had heard this from Jesus like three times already. But Jesus was always talking in parables. Maybe this was just another story to teach them something.
Nobody would touch someone as popular as Jesus was. He was the greatest thing since sliced matzah. All that bad stuff Jesus predicted might happen someday, but not now. Now was the time to let the waves of adoration from the crowd wash over them like they were at an all-inclusive Mediterranean Sea resort.
Besides, they were going to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast. Nothing bad ever happens during Passover week. Does it?
Join us Sunday morning (9:50 a.m.) to hear, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. Our scripture passages are Matthew 26:26-29, Matthew 26:36-39, and Matthew 27:45-46,50-54.
The story is not new, but the angle you see it from will be. Make your plans to be at Sunday School.
Finish Friday strong. Enjoy Saturday with your family. See you Sunday!
Loyally yours,
Darren Bayne
"A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who
works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his
hands and his brain and his heart is an artist." -- Louis Nizer
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