Easter Thoughts

Two holidays in our national calendar are more important to the Christian faith than any others: Christmas because it is the celebration of Christ coming to earth as a man, and Easter because it is the celebration of Christ’s atoning work on the cross and His resurrection upon which our entire faith rests. And although I have planned to post once a week, I couldn’t let Easter go by without saying something.

During the week before Easter, many people like to study the events leading up to Christ’s death and resurrection (Matthew 26-28 gives a detailed account of those events, as do Mark 14-16, Luke 22-24, and John 17-21). In dealing with my health issues, I’ve always liked Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt” (Mark 14:36), but I’ve come to realize that I have been self-focused in my use of this verse. While it is good that I try to make this my own prayer in dealing with my personal suffering, I ought to be focusing on the context of the verse.

When Jesus Christ prayed this prayer, He was getting ready to become the ultimate sacrifice for my sin. He was facing the most brutal form of execution known to man. He was also preparing to endure God’s wrath against sin. And He deserved none of this. He was sinless, yet He suffered my punishment for my sin so I wouldn’t have to. God turned His back on His own Son because Jesus took my sin upon Himself and chose to suffer the punishment for me.

So when I think of this verse, I should be thanking God for giving me the opportunity, first of all, to have my sins forgiven and, second, to have the opportunity to practice being like Christ in submitting to God’s will for my life when it is difficult.

And as I close out this short post, let me just say that I am so thankful that Jesus did not stay dead. If He had stayed dead, salvation would have been hopeless. It is in Christ’s resurrection that we have hope of conquering sin and of life everlasting, as the apostle Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15:13-19. Because of this hope, I can face anything because I know my Lord has gone before me and is with me, and there is a better, eternal future in Heaven with Him.

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