My Favorite Holiday - Easter

I think Dolly Parton puts it well...






"He is not here, he has risen!" Today brings the fulfillment of the weekend and all that it means. Today is the day we remember the resurrection of Jesus our Savior. All of Christianity rests on this day. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19, if Christ has not been raised, our faith is futile; we are still in our sins and we are to be pitied more than all men. Why? Because if Christ could not defeat death itself than he was not above all things. Death would have been greater than him and therefore he would not have the power to deliver us from our sin. He would be subject to death just as we are.

But he overcame death! And this is the day where all of the good from the crucifixion culminates and is celebrated. Because without today, Friday would have meant absolutely nothing; the crucifixion would have not accomplished anything for the sins of the world. Friday is only Good Friday because of the events of Sunday. But at the same time Sunday only means something because of the events of Friday. You cannot have Friday without Sunday and you cannot have Sunday without Friday. That is why I like to celebrate the weekend as a whole and remember each day for what it means.

Today all of the mourning of the last two days disappears as we remember the great victory of Jesus over the grave. Acts 2:24, "But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him." That is why Easter is my favorite holiday, because without this event, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no salvation for anyone. But because of what we celebrate this holiday, I have been redeemed from my sin and I now have the promise of an eternity with the one who loved me enough to give his life for me even while I was still in sin.

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 5:8

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

My Favorite Holiday - The Day In-Between

Here is a video I found that sort of illustrates a little bit of what I feel about Good Friday.





Today is Saturday, the day in-between the two days that we celebrate for Easter. I like to include this day in my celebration. The bible doesn't talk about what happened today. Today, Jesus is still in the grave and we have a sense of anticipation for something more as we look forward to tomorrow. Unfortunately, I don't think the disciples felt that. I think they woke up the next morning hoping it was all a dream. And realizing that it wasn't, that they really had lost the one they called "The Christ", I'm sure brought great despair to their hearts. I can't begin to imagine what this day was like for them.

The reason I like to dwell on the fact that today Jesus was still dead, is that #1 it reminds me again of the great price Christ paid for me. Because he very well could have died on the cross and chilled in his tomb for a couple of hours and rose again. Now it's a little more convincing to be dead for a couple days and then raise again, but I wonder if he wanted us to feel and experience this day. To take a day and reflect again on what happened yesterday. The most monumental event that has ever occurred and will ever occur happened yesterday. And he did it for me. I wonder if he gave us a day to let that soak in a little bit.

Let me put it this way. If Eddie took a bullet for me and died, that would hit me real hard. It would be a very sober thing to think about the loss of a life in exchange for my life. Not only would there be pain for the loss of his life because he is dear to me, but to know that he gave his life in order that I might live, well, I just don't know how I would process through that. And the next morning when I woke up and he wasn't there, all the emotion of the previous day would come flooding back in. And I would recognize the gravity of what occurred the day before.

The second reason I like to dwell on the fact that today Jesus was still in the grave, is because it makes tomorrow all the more greater to experience.

My Favorite Holiday - Good Friday

Easter is undoubtedly my favorite holiday. And when I say "Easter", I really mean the whole weekend that we remember starting from Christ's crucifixion on Friday through his resurrection on Sunday.

Today is Good Friday. All day I have been reading verses and prayers that people have posted on Facebook and Twitter. I looked at some pictures on boston.com of people around celebrating Holy Week. I've read blogs with reflections on what this day means. Today through Sunday is probably the most spiritually significant and saturated weekend of the year.

But with all of the public significance of this holiday, I want to make sure that I am letting it be personally significant. I want to make sure that it touches my soul. I want to make sure that when I go to the Good Friday service tonight that it isn't just another "church service".

Today is a remembrance of a dark day and a dark event. The death of Christ was so significant that the earth darkened, the temple shook, and even graves were opened and people who were once dead rose and walked around. The impact on the spiritual realm we may never fully understand until heaven. The moment Christ breathed his last and exclaimed that "it was finished" was the pinnacle moment of all history and it bought the souls of billions.

But more specifically it bought my soul. When Christ cried "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I no longer bore my own sin, but it was Christ who bore it.

I can't watch "The Passion of the Christ" without crying... and I never want to. I want the death of Jesus Christ to bring me to tears. When I watch the depiction of Christ being beaten and ripped to shreds, I want it to grip my soul. I want to mourn over the atrocity that occurred. If I am ever not moved by the death of Christ, I should repent of not seeing the gravity of it as I should.

Today, my Savior died. And when that day was over, the disciples still felt the pain of loss. And yes, it is a Good Friday because of what today brings, but the fullness of it's goodness has not yet been celebrated or remembered. Today, someone died in order to bring me life. And yes I can rejoice because life was given, but it came at a heavy price, the death of an eternal other by the worst means possible. And that heavy price should weigh on my heart today as I remember the death of my Savior.