Here we are…but where is “here”

Where are you today? If you are like most Christians you find yourself in a peculiar place today. We are now a couple days removed from the solemnity of Maundy Thursday and the despair AND hope of Good Friday. Yet, we have not quite made it to Easter Sunday yet. So where does that leave us?

I think it leaves us in a very advantageous position. It leaves us in between where we were and where we are going. Today is a day of decision for us. When we get to the tomb with Peter, John, and Mary tomorrow morning we are faced with a choice. Will we simply see dirty linen on the ground or will we see something larger? 

John and Peter saw strips of cloth on the ground but Mary saw something else entirely. She saw angels! Perhaps it was because Peter and John were practical and saw simply what was left behind. I think it is something more however. I think Mary saw the angels because through it all she had a hope that Peter and John had misplaced. 

It was a hope in something bigger than what was right before her eyes. It was a hope of a promise she did not yet fully understand. Yet it was there. Do you have that hope as well?

A hope that sees beyond to what is and looks towards what will be? It is a hope that does not let present circumstances dictate your future. It is a hope that is centered on Jesus Christ, the risen Savior. It is a hope that is bigger than the in between we constantly live in. It is a hope in miracles in life.

Today, choose that hope and move past the in between and into the arms of God.

 

Can you Imagine the Noise?

We have come to Palm Sunday and together we enter into Holy Week much as Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time. Jesus entered the gates of the city surrounded by people who were cheering him as the Messiah.

Can you imagine the noise? So long, Jesus had been proclaiming his message of the kingdom and perhaps they were finally getting it. He had healed them and taught them and save them and now it had come to this. Can you imagine the noise?

How about in the temple later on in the week, do you remember? We just remember it as Jesus clearing out the temple, but can you imagine the noise? There would have been so many people there for Passover week. The hustle and the bustle and all that commotion. In the midst of all that noise, Jesus saw the cheating and the lack of focus and cleared out the Temple. Can you imagine the noise?

Still later in the week we find Jesus with his disciples in the Upper Room. Jesus had shared a meal with them and the disciples were now arguing about who among them will be the greatest. Can you imagine the noise?

Jesus later is arrested in the garden and the soldiers and others come to take him away. They are met by the disciples and Jesus and there is a scuffle and accusations. In the midst of the chaos Jesus is led away. Can you imagine the noise?

Jesus is placed on trial and stood before the crowd and asked if he should be released. They seemingly all scream out to “crucify him”. Can you imagine the noise?

Jesus is led away and beaten. the instruments of torture used rip his flesh. Can you imagine the noise? He is led out to Calvary carrying the cross. Jesus looks around and sees many of the same faces which welcomes him earlier in the week and screamed out for his crucifixion. Perhaps those same people are now jeering him as he is led away. Others would be crying and wailing. Can you imagine the noise?

Jesus has his hands nailed to the cross and as the hammer strikes the nails and Jesus cries out, can you imagine the noise? He is hung up on the cross in between two criminals. One of the criminals joins in the taunting and mocks Jesus. Can you imagine the noise?

As the day draws near to an end, Jesus breathes his last breath and says “It is finished”….and the world stopped.

Can you imagine the noise?

Touching Down

Do you know where you are headed?
Do you have the right coordinates?
Do you have enough time to alter your course?