Now that I've finished scrubbing chunks of Peeps off of the hardwood floors, found all of the handfuls of goldfish crackers that my 2-year-old walked around and hid this morning (inspired by the egg hunt yesterday, maybe?), and my kids have crashed from their sugar high and fallen asleep...
I'm thinking about Easter, the real story, and how many people know the basics, but don't give it much more thought than to say they are "celebrating Christ's sacrifice for us" today...including myself. I'm not judging! I'm just pointing out that when you're trying to make sure you got the Easter baskets just right, took the perfect pics of the kids in their Spring outfits, and remembered the casserole and/or dessert that you're supposed to bring for Easter dinner...it's almost impossible to TRULY give the "real" reason for Easter the attention that it deserves. You might dress up and go to church and listen to a sermon about it, but that's just not really enough. Again - I am including myself in the "fallen short" pool here.
So I decided to look up the Easter story in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, then summarize it for you. I'm not trying to offend anyone, or call myself re-writing the Bible, or anything equally as blasphemous - so please don't send me hate mail about such nonsense. I just thought that either you know the story and would enjoy a freshly summarized version, or maybe you DON'T know anything about it and could use a down-to-earth version to help you understand what all the hype is about.
Either way, here goes....
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Two days before Passover (a Jewish festival celebrating the Hebrew people being freed from slavery in Egypt - check out the book of Exodus), Jesus was winding down from laying a bunch of parables (stories that teach a lesson) on his crew, and he says to his disciples, "Hey guys, I need to tell you about some stuff that's about to go down." Jesus gave them a heads up that they were going to be persecuted because of their relationship with Him. He explained that He hadn't told them about this until now because previously, He had been WITH them and they didn't need to worry about it. Now, however, He was about to leave them, and they needed to know to watch their back. He explained that this was because pretty soon, He had to go away and be with his Dad, but then He would come back. The disciples were like, "What?! You're not really making a lot of sense, Jesus..." So he breaks it down like this: "You know how a woman in labor goes through all kinds of pain, but then when she sees her baby, she completely forgets all about the pain and suffering, because she's so full of joy in that moment that they are united? Well, that's just like what's about to happen. You are going to be really bummed out and think that everything is just totally awful when I leave - but then I'll come back and you'll be so happy that you'll forget all about how sad you were. No one will ever be able to take that joy away from you. I mean, I came from Heaven, guys...I gotta go back there. If I don't go, then you won't be able to join me later. And trust me - you'll want to join me, because this world is full of trouble. With me though? You'll have peace."
Now, you're not going to believe this BUT, there's another meeting going on at the same time: all the chief priests and elders and what-not, are all gathered up at this cat named Caiaphas's house (he was a high priest). They are all super annoyed with Jesus because, basically, He's awesome and helps people, but doesn't follow all of their rules. Plus, he goes around saying that He's the Son of God, and that just ticks them off, royally. They all plot against J.C. and decide to arrest Him in secret...and then off Him. "We better not do it during Passover, though," they decide. "The people would get totally twisted up about that."
Here's an even bigger kicker: in order to help that nasty group accomplish their plan, wouldn't you know that one of Jesus's OWN disciples (Judas) just up and offers to help them with their black op mission?! And for what?! 30 pieces of silver! Then the jerk has the nerve to deny it when he gets called out. During his last supper, Jesus throws it out there - "One of you guys right here in this room, eating with me, dipping your bread in the same bowl as mine...will betray me." Of course, all of the disciples are like, "No way! That's crazy!" One of the disciples, Peter, gets all super defensive about how he would NEVER betray Jesus. Jesus is like, "That's nice, Peter, but I happen to know that you will deny even KNOWING me three separate times before the sun comes up." (And he does.) Judas though, he's a real piece of work, because he actually says, "Well, it ain't me, for sure!" And Jesus is like, "Hey, man - you said it, not me. But just so you know - the guy who betrays me, would be better off not even being born." (Daaaang!) Then they ate bread and drank wine. When Jesus broke the bread he compared it to his body being broken for us, and when he poured the wine he compared it to his blood being spilled for us. (That's what's up with communion services at churches.)
After supper, they all headed to Gethsamane. Jesus told his guys to keep watch while He prayed. He prayed to His Father: He prayed for strength, He prayed for God's will, He prayed for his disciples, and He prayed for all believers. He sweat, He cried, and He prayed. He asked God if there was any other way... He was overwhelmed with sorrow, and if I had to guess, He was freaking out about what He knew He was getting ready to go through. He checked on his disciples twice - both times they were sleeping, NOT standing guard. The third time He finished praying, He told them "C'mon guys, seriously, this is all about to go down, you need to get up and stand tall."
Now, here comes the gang sent by that nasty guy, Caiaphas. Wouldn't you know, Judas is with them. He walks right up to Jesus and kisses him. This is the signal for the guys to arrest Jesus. Jesus keeps his cool and tells Judas, "Do what you came to do, man." These guys had torches, clubs, and swords...they were eager for trouble. Peter, being super keen to prove himself, ends up cutting one guy's ear off. Jesus tells Peter to cool his heels, though, and then He even heals the guy's ear. "I'm around every day, so y'all could arrest me whenever, y'know," He tells them. He goes with the men, however, and requests that his disciples be left alone. Good thing, because they all took off anyway.
They bring J.C. back to Caiaphas and all of the super important priests and elders. They proceed to hold a pretty messed up version of a trial where they basically try to get anyone and everyone to say something that will give them an excuse to execute 'ol J.C. No one can seem to quite get their stories straight, though; so ultimately they just ask him, "Are you the Son of God?" Of course, Jesus IS, so he tells them so. They call this blasphemy and condemn him to death...but not without beating him, spitting on him, and mocking him. Meanwhile, Judas ends up feeling pretty guilty, tries to take it all back, gets rejected, throws the money back and hangs himself.
Because Caiaphas and his crew didn't really have the authority to execute Jesus, they drug Him up to the governor, Pilate. Pilate wasn't really impressed with the charges, so he tried to find a way out of having to deal with things. He learned that Jesus was from Galilee, so he sent Him there, for Herod to judge. Herod and his crew further tortured and mocked Jesus, but didn't really have a reason to execute Him either, so they sent Him BACK to Pilate - again passing Him back off to be dealt with. Pilate tried another way out: "Passover tradition is that I release a prisoner. How about I just release Jesus, since He hasn't really done anything?" Unfortunately, Caiaphas and his crew had pumped the crowd up to dispute this, and the people demanded not only for Jesus to be crucified, but for a murderer named Barabbas to be released instead.
So crucify Him they did. His crime? Claiming to be "King of the Jews." The soldiers flogged Jesus, mocked Him, made Him a crown of thorns and pressed it into His head. They draped a purple robe around His shoulders while they hit and spit on Him and had Him carry His own cross to Golgotha (until He collapsed and they forced a man from the crowd, Simon, to carry it for Him). They drove nails through His hands and feet to secure Him to His cross, erected it between two criminals and left Him to die while they divided up His clothes amongst themselves. While He hung there - bleeding, suffering, and dying - Jesus was ridiculed by both the people passing by, and one of the other criminals hanging beside Him. All of this happened while His own mother had to watch, and weep, at the foot of her beloved Son's cross.
When Jesus died (Good Friday), his body was taken down, wrapped in linens, and placed in a tomb. Before he died, Jesus had made it known that he would be back on Day 3 (Easter). Because there was a fear that His disciples would steal his body in order to make this claim appear true, there was a large stone rolled in front of the tomb's entrance to block it, and a guard posted to protect the body.
And yet, the stone was rolled away. Jesus's body was gone. He appeared to his followers as promised (they took a little convincing) - and then he charged them (and all believers) with the task of sharing the good news that is His life and death, so that all people could know about His Father and the relationship that is available to us because of His sacrifice.
Now, you're not going to believe this BUT, there's another meeting going on at the same time: all the chief priests and elders and what-not, are all gathered up at this cat named Caiaphas's house (he was a high priest). They are all super annoyed with Jesus because, basically, He's awesome and helps people, but doesn't follow all of their rules. Plus, he goes around saying that He's the Son of God, and that just ticks them off, royally. They all plot against J.C. and decide to arrest Him in secret...and then off Him. "We better not do it during Passover, though," they decide. "The people would get totally twisted up about that."
Here's an even bigger kicker: in order to help that nasty group accomplish their plan, wouldn't you know that one of Jesus's OWN disciples (Judas) just up and offers to help them with their black op mission?! And for what?! 30 pieces of silver! Then the jerk has the nerve to deny it when he gets called out. During his last supper, Jesus throws it out there - "One of you guys right here in this room, eating with me, dipping your bread in the same bowl as mine...will betray me." Of course, all of the disciples are like, "No way! That's crazy!" One of the disciples, Peter, gets all super defensive about how he would NEVER betray Jesus. Jesus is like, "That's nice, Peter, but I happen to know that you will deny even KNOWING me three separate times before the sun comes up." (And he does.) Judas though, he's a real piece of work, because he actually says, "Well, it ain't me, for sure!" And Jesus is like, "Hey, man - you said it, not me. But just so you know - the guy who betrays me, would be better off not even being born." (Daaaang!) Then they ate bread and drank wine. When Jesus broke the bread he compared it to his body being broken for us, and when he poured the wine he compared it to his blood being spilled for us. (That's what's up with communion services at churches.)
After supper, they all headed to Gethsamane. Jesus told his guys to keep watch while He prayed. He prayed to His Father: He prayed for strength, He prayed for God's will, He prayed for his disciples, and He prayed for all believers. He sweat, He cried, and He prayed. He asked God if there was any other way... He was overwhelmed with sorrow, and if I had to guess, He was freaking out about what He knew He was getting ready to go through. He checked on his disciples twice - both times they were sleeping, NOT standing guard. The third time He finished praying, He told them "C'mon guys, seriously, this is all about to go down, you need to get up and stand tall."
Now, here comes the gang sent by that nasty guy, Caiaphas. Wouldn't you know, Judas is with them. He walks right up to Jesus and kisses him. This is the signal for the guys to arrest Jesus. Jesus keeps his cool and tells Judas, "Do what you came to do, man." These guys had torches, clubs, and swords...they were eager for trouble. Peter, being super keen to prove himself, ends up cutting one guy's ear off. Jesus tells Peter to cool his heels, though, and then He even heals the guy's ear. "I'm around every day, so y'all could arrest me whenever, y'know," He tells them. He goes with the men, however, and requests that his disciples be left alone. Good thing, because they all took off anyway.
They bring J.C. back to Caiaphas and all of the super important priests and elders. They proceed to hold a pretty messed up version of a trial where they basically try to get anyone and everyone to say something that will give them an excuse to execute 'ol J.C. No one can seem to quite get their stories straight, though; so ultimately they just ask him, "Are you the Son of God?" Of course, Jesus IS, so he tells them so. They call this blasphemy and condemn him to death...but not without beating him, spitting on him, and mocking him. Meanwhile, Judas ends up feeling pretty guilty, tries to take it all back, gets rejected, throws the money back and hangs himself.
Because Caiaphas and his crew didn't really have the authority to execute Jesus, they drug Him up to the governor, Pilate. Pilate wasn't really impressed with the charges, so he tried to find a way out of having to deal with things. He learned that Jesus was from Galilee, so he sent Him there, for Herod to judge. Herod and his crew further tortured and mocked Jesus, but didn't really have a reason to execute Him either, so they sent Him BACK to Pilate - again passing Him back off to be dealt with. Pilate tried another way out: "Passover tradition is that I release a prisoner. How about I just release Jesus, since He hasn't really done anything?" Unfortunately, Caiaphas and his crew had pumped the crowd up to dispute this, and the people demanded not only for Jesus to be crucified, but for a murderer named Barabbas to be released instead.
So crucify Him they did. His crime? Claiming to be "King of the Jews." The soldiers flogged Jesus, mocked Him, made Him a crown of thorns and pressed it into His head. They draped a purple robe around His shoulders while they hit and spit on Him and had Him carry His own cross to Golgotha (until He collapsed and they forced a man from the crowd, Simon, to carry it for Him). They drove nails through His hands and feet to secure Him to His cross, erected it between two criminals and left Him to die while they divided up His clothes amongst themselves. While He hung there - bleeding, suffering, and dying - Jesus was ridiculed by both the people passing by, and one of the other criminals hanging beside Him. All of this happened while His own mother had to watch, and weep, at the foot of her beloved Son's cross.
When Jesus died (Good Friday), his body was taken down, wrapped in linens, and placed in a tomb. Before he died, Jesus had made it known that he would be back on Day 3 (Easter). Because there was a fear that His disciples would steal his body in order to make this claim appear true, there was a large stone rolled in front of the tomb's entrance to block it, and a guard posted to protect the body.
And yet, the stone was rolled away. Jesus's body was gone. He appeared to his followers as promised (they took a little convincing) - and then he charged them (and all believers) with the task of sharing the good news that is His life and death, so that all people could know about His Father and the relationship that is available to us because of His sacrifice.
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And that's the Easter Story....basically.
THAT'S what God did for us. That's what Jesus suffered for me...for you...for the mean lady next door. It doesn't matter what you've done, who hates you, or even if YOU hate you - God loves you. And he proved it by letting his own Son be beaten, spit on, mocked, and crucified....just for you and me. There is nothing and there is nobody that can stop you from having a relationship with Christ - except you. Having Jesus live in your heart is something as simple as opening a gift that's been sitting on your kitchen table every day, while you just walk by it and pretend like it's not there.
I'm not perfect...but I AM a Christian. Does that make other people uncomfortable? Sometimes. Does that make things uncomfortable for ME? There are definitely situations that cause me internal conflict. But am I confident in the fact that I have done NOTHING to deserve salvation (nor has anyone else), yet have it anyway? Yes. Yes, I am.
Happy Easter!
♥M
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