Easter Message

It’s Holy Week and Easter is just around the corner. We just had Palm Sunday in which the remembrance and celebration of Jesus coming into Jerusalem was accentuated with a parade and much praise.

Historically, there were a few big events during that week that followed like Jesus condemning and disrupting the corruption of temple worship practices as well as Judas agreeing to betray Jesus by striking a deal with the Pharisees.

Then the Last Supper happened on Thursday of that week where the disciples shared the Passover Meal together and Jesus redefined the elements of the remembrance.

The food and drink were extremely special to the Israelite people because they brought to memory the ancient story of God’s deliverance of the entire nation out of slavery in Egypt. It represented the bricks they made as slaves, the bitterness of the oppression, the hasty escape and the blood of the lamb.

It would bring to mind the provision in the desert as well as the promise of a new land flowing with milk and honey, necessity and excess. This was a dynamic and exciting week of storytelling and remembering.

And now, Jesus changed the script. Instead of telling the same story of hope for a people centuries ago, he said, this is NEW. It NOW represents ME. I am the bread and wine. When you eat and drink of it you are to remember me because there is going to be a different covenant, a new promise, an even greater meaning.

Luke 24:1-6

“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had

prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here: he has RISEN!””

The women came to the place of REMEMBRANCE. The ‘sepulchre’ (aka tomb) where Jesus’ body laid, is from the Greek word that means to recall, to bring to mind, to remember. They went to REMEMBER Jesus. 

But, when they got there, he was gone and angels met them asking, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

They didn’t realize that their future life with Jesus is not just one of remembering, to just think about and recall from memory; it is a RE-membering - to MEMBER again. Jesus put things back together as they were originally designed to be. His life, death, and ultimately resurrection was a restoration process that was way more than a mental exercise. It brought us back to garden life.

Jesus came to Mary “IN THE GARDEN” much like God did with Eve in the beginning, meeting face to face. The story of Easter is one of RE-Membering, of bringing the body into communion with the head, of bringing God’s children into relationship with the Father.

This EASTER, stop looking for the living among the dead! Maybe you need to realize that you have been digging through the grave for life - a habit, a relationship, an addiction, endless pleasure, pursuit of power, or empty purpose. Maybe you’ve been rummaging through the archives for something living - your past successes, former relationships, previous experiences, or days long gone.

Instead, you need to go to the living source, the one who makes all things new, who left the grave behind, who redefined hope for today and the promise for tomorrow. 

Make plans to attend a service somewhere this Sunday and go in with the mindset of being united with the Creator of the World and Savior of us all. Our sin isn’t something we can deal with by ourselves; we NEED Jesus.

Don’t forget to come for Sunrise Service at 645am with breakfast before it at 600am. You will hear a powerful story from Coach Jack Johnson about his encounter with life in the resurrection.

#HappyEaster

#REmember

#RestoringWholenessOfLife 

Brett