Anticipating Easter

What’s your favorite thing about Easter?  Do you like the date as a milestone on the move into Spring?  Do Easter egg hunts hasten your heart rate?  Do you like the candies that are often associated with Easter, like Cadbury eggs, Peeps yellow marshmallow chicks, chocolate bunnies, pastel jellybeans, . . . . ?  Do you get really amped to think about Jesus’ resurrection?  Maybe an Easter sunrise church service?

We’re right on the cusp of Easter Sunday, as we find ourselves in the midst of Holy Week.  During this week, we are reminded about Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, Him  overturning the tables in the Temple, the Last Supper, Gethsemane and lots more events the lead to Jesus’ resurrection on Easter. 

In the past, I tended to minimize and gloss over the events of Holy Week because I just liked the good news, excitement, celebration and miraculous resurrection.  But I had a friend who told me that her favorite religious holiday was Good Friday.  When she first told me that, I was surprised and even recoiled at her preference.  “Why on earth would you revel in such a dark day?”  I asked her.  She replied, “Sarah, you can’t have resurrection without death and Jesus’ death positioned Him to know and experience all of the darkness and conclusion of human existence.”  I didn’t know what to say, as her words sank into my soul and gave me pause. 

So during this Holy Week, in anticipation of Easter and resurrection, let’s take some time to reflect on Jesus’ last week.  And maybe we could identify some applications in our lives from His experiences in this week.  Consider:

·         Jesus upending the Temple upon His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  Are there some religious practices and mindsets in our lives that Jesus would want to upend and untangle?

·         Jesus’ Last Supper with His closest followers.  Would you be able to spend a quiet and reflective meal or some fasting with Jesus and listen to Him perhaps tell you things that you don’t like or understand?

·         Jesus’ experience in Gethsemane.  Would you be able to keep watch, keep company, with Jesus during the darkest time in His life, up to that point?  Would you be able to pay attention to Jesus when you see Him struggle, travail and in anguish? We probably prefer to watch Jesus miraculously multiply bread and fish to feed thousands of people, listen to His incredible teaching, admire His compassion and care for hurting people and revel in seeing Him open blind eyes, heal quadriplegics, raise little girls from the dead and turn water into wine.  Would we choose to keep company with our struggling Savior?

·         Jesus undergoing trial at the hands of unjust religious leaders.  Would we be like Peter and the rest of Jesus’ disciples who abandoned and betrayed Him during intense and pressure times? 

·         Jesus looking from His cross and talking with John.  Would we choose to stand around Jesus’ cross, see His horrifically mangled body, watch Him struggle to breath, anguish in brutal pain and listen to Him ask us to take care of His family, like He requested John to look after His mom?  

Let’s allow this Holy Week to prepare us for Jesus’ resurrection.  Let’s take some time to journey with Jesus as He makes His way to resurrection Sunday.