Tag: easter

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This Friday Doesn’t Feel Good

To the typical every day Christian, the Cross is a symbol of victory. But this Good Friday just like when Christ died, doesn’t feel good at all. We reflect on Jesus’ death on the cross, and think of the suffering He had to go through. Then we turn our attention to today, with thousands of our loved ones dying daily because of a deadly virus, this Friday doesn’t feel good, or like we are in a position of victory.

When we think about the cross and our current situation, it may look like evil has triumphed over goodness, the powerful over the powerless, but that’s not the truth. Jesus’ death on the cross was actually good overpowering evil. Jesus was triumphing. When He cried out, ‘it is finished’ (some translations say ‘it is completed’), He didn’t mean, ‘I’m finished, My cause is defeated.’ Far from being crushed, Jesus triumphed over the powers of darkness. Hallelujah! In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities, as well as all their evil antics. He shamed them publicly, physically and spiritually by His victory over them, and He changed how we could relate to God. No longer would we be bound by sin and shame; instead, He paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be right with God. Love triumphed over the law. The Bible says “and three days later the empty tomb proved Christ had won the victory over death”. 

Today, on this Good Friday, Christ’s victory over evil on the cross gives us hope that evil won’t win. Covid-19 will not determine the end of this world, or who will be in the resurrection. Whatever we’re facing, we know we can be victorious, because Christ was victorious. We’re overcomers because He has already overcome. Christ says, ‘in this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world’ (NIV). Sin, shame, and struggles won’t overcome us, because He has already overcome them all. So, this Good Friday, let’s remember that the cross and death wasn’t the end — Jesus rose and because He did we can. 

‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world’

(John 16:33 NIV). 

Pray With Me
Yahweh, on this Good Friday give Your people Your peace, that we may shine brightly in this dark and evil world. Father, grant us the courage to live faithfully even in the midst of hard times. Let our fear of You be the beginning of wisdom, rather than allowing the fear of the world to drive our actions. God, help us to embrace our heavenly citizenship, and live confidently in the midst of a world that needs to know You. Show Your mercy and heal those who are suffering. Most of all God, come. Restore the world You have made and make all things new. God, on this Good Friday, please grant us your goodness. We pray that Your will would be done, in Christ’s most Holy Name! Amen.

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Those Pesky Thorns

Those Pesky Thorns

One Easter morning, several Seasons ago, I was removing the Crown of thorns from the cross outside my house, and the black drape that had displayed the reminder of His death for two days. I then placed the white flower wreath around the head of the cross and draped the arms in white. As I laid the pieces on the ground, I began to wonder whatever happened to Jesus’ actual crown of thorns. I recently saw on the news, during the tragic fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, that there was a relic housed there that is said to be that crown of thorns.

Thorns have been with us since the fall of Creation. The Scriptures tell us this in Genesis:

The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

(Genesis 3:17-18 HCSB)

Thorns are a result of the fall of man. My Pastor recently said that they represent sin, and as you study them in the Bible, that sure makes sense. They show up in many ways. In three instances in Scripture, they are used as a metaphor for the people the Israelites did not drive out from the land. God says that these people would be thorns in their eyes and in their sides, and that their false gods would be a trap and snare to them. (Num. 33:55, Joshua 23:13, Judges 2:3) In this instance they are the result of disobedience in following God’s command. In the book of Judges, they are used as an instrument of punishment (Judges 8:4-17). People are said to be entangled in them; they are what overgrows everything when not tended to. They are mentioned often as what is gathered and burned.

Most famously we have the New Testament references of the Crown of thorns Jesus wore, and the thorn in the flesh spoken of by the Apostle Paul.

As I stood there pondering the question of Christ’s Crown of Thorns, God began to weave together for me the picture of each of us carrying a thorn in our flesh from Jesus’ crown.

As Paul spoke of these thorns in the flesh, he said this:

Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself. 8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me. 9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.

(2 Corinthians 12:7-9 HCSB)

This picture of a thorn from Jesus’ Crown being given to each of us to carry, as a thorn in our flesh, has blessed me many times in my own personal struggles. Paul said the thorn was given to him to keep him from exalting himself. Even so, I believe our thorns keep us from this same snare. The thorn I asked to have removed early in life was social anxiety disorder. Instead of removing it, God is always placing me in situations, where I am used to speak, teach, share, or sing publicly. Each time, I do it afraid, leaning on Him for the ability and stability to bring Him glory. Writing is so much easier because I can hide behind this computer alone, typing away. I pray that the Lord will bless you with that picture as you struggle with your own thorns in the flesh. Picturing it as one of the precious thorns that pierced our Savior’s brow, and is tipped with His blood, may just make it feel more like a privilege than a burden.

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Are You A Dumb Disciple?

With Easter only being a few days away, it’s easy to listen in on the story where Jesus tells the disciples that soon He will be betrayed and suffer, be nailed to a cross and die, and after three days rise again, and think, “dumb disciples, why didn’t they ever get it? Why couldn’t they hear what He told them so plainly and not  just once but three times?”

Thinking about it, I’m not sure the disciples were dumb, or at least that I am any smarter than they were. There are lots of times when I switch off, I hear only what I want to hear, not what was being said. And there have also been quite a number of times that I’ve been speaking to congregations, especially ones where people are angry and frightened, and I’ve noticed that their capacity for hearing what’s being said, or seeing what’s going on can be zero. Truth can be spoken over and over and we just don’t seem to hear it. Strange!

So why did He tell them what was about to go down? I feel that somehow, later, they would recall His words subconsciously. They would say, “I remember, now I get it.” And what exactly would they be getting? That when our plans and predictions go bust and our expectations aren’t fulfilled, God is still God. God is still working and is able to bring about His purposes in spite of our sin.

Today, just because what we thought would happen or should happen doesn’t, it doesn’t mean the whole story is over. The story is God’s story, bigger than we can grasp, better than we can imagine. So let’s listen and not just hear, let’s see and not just look. How? With our spiritual hearts and mind.

But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what he said.

(Luke 18:34)

Pray With Me
Yahshua, forgive me for being a dumb disciple, for the times when my heart goes hard, and the eyes of my heart are closed, and the ears of my heart are stopped. God, keep working with me, leading me in Your will, healing my heart and opening my eyes and ears to Your grace. In Jesus’ Name! Amen.

 

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