photo: CCO public domain

This weekend is the celebration of the culmination of the purpose for Christ’s coming to earth the first time. We hear the Easter story over and over until its profoundness gets lost on us. It gets drowned out in all the busyness of buying new Easter clothes and getting Easter baskets and talking about the Easter bunny.

The Easter story is a love story between Christ and His church

Sometimes we forget that it is a love story between Christ and His church, between GOD and His people down through the ages of history. The same thing that can happen in a marriage, often happens with us…we get lazy and stop caring for our relationship.

We stop spending and loving the time we spend with GOD. We settle for lesser things…lesser in importance, lesser in value, lesser in priority. We let ourselves go. stop

It is an ugly thing. A fat, lazy, now ugly bride of Christ who sits there and does almost nothing to build the relationship.  Her groom who adores her and gives of Himself for her. Of course, He will bring things into her life, both individually and collectively to move her to grow and change! He knows it is not good for her to sit and stagnate. He doesn’t want her to settle for a life like that.

Yes, the cross is a bloody mess, but it is also beautiful. It is where our sin was completely paid for.

He wants her to understand the glory of what He did on the cross over 2000 years ago. Yes, it was ugly, but it was also beautiful…a lot like childbirth, only more so. Childbirth is ugly, painful and at times, seems close to death. It is also bloody and messy. There is no neat way to have a child.

It was that way when it came to dealing with sin. It was a bloody mess. It needed blood and death to remove it. Only the GOD-man who lived a perfect life was able to remove it for an infinite number of people.

He had to be willing to leave the privilege of heaven and come to earth and its mess for us. He was. Even though He knew how difficult it would be. It would be horrid! Every single bit of it must have been at least uncomfortable. The worst part, however, was not his dealings with sinners, but with those who thought they were righteous…the religious leaders! The worst things He had to say to people in the Gospels, were to them! How awful. If those of us who have settled into a boring christian life would hear some of those words of condemnation from Jesus!

On Good Friday, Jesus won the victory over sin and death. It didn’t show until Easter Sunday when He rose from the dead!

Today, on Good Friday, let us stop and remember what Jesus did for us on the cross. He paid for our sin! That was a big thing, a huge thing. But the proof that He was victorious over sin and death didn’t show on Friday, it showed on Sunday when He rose from the dead!! Hallelujah! Sin and death have been conquered. We don’t need to settle anymore.

Whether it is pornography, sexual sin, stealing, or the more common sins of gossip, lying, greed, and inappropriate anger (to name a few), the victory was won at the cross over 2000 years ago! Whenever we are tempted to sin, we can remind satan of that as well. Thanks be to GOD!

He was despised and rejected by men,
    a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.

 Isaiah 53:3-7 ESV

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus
from the law of sin and death.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.
By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,
he condemned sin in the flesh,
in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh,
but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

 And every priest stands daily at his service,
offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins,
he sat down at the right hand of God,
waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Hebrews 10:11-14

Last night when I didn’t see a word prompt for Five Minute Friday, I was disappointed. What would I write about today? I wanted to write something on Easter weekend. I was glad that the word wasn’t there as an oversight, but as you can see, I had a few ideas on my mind! I was talking to myself this weekend. I have been home missing Palm Sunday and depending how my cough is, might even miss the Easter Sunday service. I also missed the Maundy Thursday service when I felt the worst! I miss the people, but most of all, I miss the preaching of the Word that encourages me to grow in directions I might not normally  move.

I hope all of you have a wonderful and blessed Easter weekend.