Pastor’s Moment
“He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!” So goes the greeting we use on Easter. Today as we celebrate, I am reminded of the week Jesus faced. The victory now won, the task now finished and the prophecies of the Lord through the generations now fulfilled. More than two thousand years ago it was the culmination of an amazing week. A week filled with joy and with sorrow. A week filled with love and with anger. A week filled with wonder and awe, a week filled with Holy determination and vile betrayal.
He was betrayed by the very ones professing to be God’s representatives on earth, whose Sacred Task was to bring people closer to God, but instead drove them away. He was betrayed by those who professed faith in God in the name of defending their religion. By their misguided ideas of what God’s Word means, they drove Jesus to a terrible death on a cross. He was betrayed by one of the twelve when Judas gave Him up for thirty pieces of silver. He was even denied not once but three times by Peter, ‘The Rock’, who had shown such great faith. Yet, He died for each of them… He died for us, He died for you, He died for me
What a strange world we live in. More than two thousand years later so many still deny Him. So many are still misguided. What strange creatures we humans are. Martin Luther thought we are all like raving lunatics. As I look at the world around us, ahhh, yup, I get it. Yet, Christ still chose to die for us.
And today, like so many years ago, when Jesus Christ enters into our lives and hearts, everything changes. “I have come to set the captive free.” Captive, what captive? “Why, you my precious child.” Free, free from what? “Free from your sin and despair.” “He came to Love, heal and forgive”, the hymn goes. He came to die for my sins. Who me? But I don’t deserve it my heart cries, and His voice echoes, “I know, but come to me and I will make you whiter than snow, I will take you home, I will give you peace.” And my mind asks, but why? Why would you do this for me? “Because I Love you.” Oh, thank You Lord!
He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Praise God!
“Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11
In the Powerful Name of Christ,
Pastor Mike