Rejoice! Again I Say Rejoice!

It is almost Easter. It tops my list of Christian holidays. No other holidays compare, not even Christmas. There are scores of celebrations around Christmas, but so few around Easter. Egg hunts and Palm Sunday.  No decorations or a gazillion hymns and songs. While there are hymns and Easter lilies celebrating Easter, it’s just not as many and I have to wonder why.

What sets Easter apart is Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. There were no wise men bringing gifts, no star marking Bethlehem. No angels praising God and awed shepherds spreading the good news. I am not saying Christmas isn’t important, because the incarnation of the Holy Son of God stooping to become a man is miraculous and worthy of celebration. But Easter is the culmination of his life and ministry. It is a miracle above all else. The God Man rising from the grave, bringing eternal hope and life to all who believe. And that hope can embrace all humanity if people will only believe in Jesus, his death and resurrection.

Every time we partake of communion, we celebrate the death of Jesus and in that act we are endued anew with the presence of the Holy Spirit whose mission is to dwell in our hearts and make the teachings of Jesus known, to ourselves and to those to whom we carry the message. All because of Easter.

Remembering the night of the last supper and the betrayal of our Lord is part of the essential belief in the resurrection. We cannot fully grasp the turmoil and struggle of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying so fervently that his sweat became drops of blood. And all the while the disciples slept. His close friends he shared all with for three years. Oblivious to the danger and all Jesus had revealed to them about his impending death, they slept right up to the betraying kiss. Peter only added to the betrayal of Judas when he denied Jesus three times while Jesus was beaten and interrogated. Mocked, scorned and scourged by his own people and the Gentiles.

The final steps of Jesus were painful beyond comprehension. The nails driven into his hands and feet are too much to bear. I often wonder how much grief was gripping Mary’s heart as she saw her first born, her baby in such agony, knowing there was only death for relief. The mocking was relentless. Even a thief crucified with him joined in the hatred. And on that day God turned his face away and left Jesus to suffer on his own, bearing the weight of the combined sins of all  humanity, past, present and future, and in doing so the sin of the world was forever canceled. The mocking Lucifer was silenced and his dominion on earth was wrested away. 

Lest the terrible days leading up to the crucifixion leave hopeless all who mourn then and now, the plan that was incomplete, the battered and suffering Savior dead and buried, was made complete.  The resurrection from death and the grave overturned all. In the instant Jesus was reincarnated all was made new. Everything was made complete and the hope of all people throughout history was fulfilled. Death was overcome and the door to God’s awesome presence was flung open. For all who believe death no longer stings, no longer brings fear and is no longer the end of life. As Jesus cried out from the cross, it is finished.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!