The Day After Easter

The Day After Easter

For forty days I've posted my reflections as I've worked to prepare my heart for Easter.  My intent was to spend forty days giving up any part of the day that would normally be spent on myself like eating breakfast, watching Jude during soccer practice, lying in bed before I fall asleep and then trying to be extremely efficient with my everyday work to create a solid amount of time to devote to reading scripture, taking notes, studying, praying, thinking and then writing reflections from the day.  There was also time that I’d just sit quietly, yielding to God.  Listening with an open heart. 

One doesn’t get vulnerable with God without being changed.  I certainly sit here at the end of this forty day journey of preparing my heart, changed.  Allowing myself to walk into Scripture with a real presence, I could feel myself draining out as God poured Himself in.  There were days that after spending time walking beside my Savior in the Word, I’d feel completely exhausted by the work that He had done in my heart.  I'm sure that many now think that I'm a complete weirdo.  I'm ok with that.  I am not ashamed of my faith or my relationship with Jesus Christ.  He is my Creator.  My Savior.  My Redeemer.  My All.  I'm a broken sinner who thoroughly messes up, who falls so short of being worthy of anything.  But Jesus is real, and my life in Him is not something I hide.  If you have known me, and didn't know that my greatest love is Jesus, that my purpose is knowing Him, loving others like Him and making Him known, then I'm truly sorry for not living like I should have.  I’m a believer.  I’m a follower of Jesus.  My life should have been a total reflection of my love for Jesus the very first time we met. There should have never been a doubt that my light is His light.  Everything good in me is Him.  And so with that and last year's sermon notes still bold and on my heart, I begin my last reflection.

Today, I quietly walk beside a wealthy man named Joseph of Arimathea, who was on the council that had condemned Jesus.  He, however, was not one who had agreed with that verdict.  He was a witness to Who Jesus was.  He knew.  This was the Son of God.  The Messiah.  This was no criminal.  A proper burial was going to happen and Joseph was going to make sure of it.  So, without making any disturbance, he went to ask permission from Pilate for the body of Jesus. According to scripture, he was secretly a disciple of Jesus. So Joseph and Nicodemus stepped out in faith, to do the dangerous task of burying Jesus amidst the turmoil and blood-thirsty trials of the past day.  There’s still gloom hovering the earth as they move to get the body of their Savior.  I can hear them telling the soldiers, "Take Him down with great care.  Be gentle with the Messiah".  And as they lower His torn body, I can see the tears streaming as they behold the King being lowered from the tree where He had given Himself up for them.  And as the soldiers remove the nails, I can hear Joseph cry out, “Wait!!  Those are the hands that created the heavens and the earth.  Didn’t you see those hands touch the blind man just a month ago?  You know! He was the man standing at your side, crying as he WATCHED you raise Jesus’ cross.  When you remove those nails, do it with a most delicate touch.  They are your Lord’s hands”.

They lay out the body of Jesus.  And for a moment they stare at Him, overcome with love.  Here was His earthly body.  Their tears fell and they gently began to wipe away His blood.  They tenderly held His head, doing the best they could to remove thorns.  They carefully lay the ribbons of flesh back in place, as their tears continue to fall on the slaughtered Lamb of God. Joseph brought fine linen for the shroud and Nicodemus brought an overabundance of spices, myrrh, and aloe, and together, with Mary Magdalene and the other Mary there with them, they prepared His body and laid it to rest in Joseph’s tomb.  It was new, never before occupied and Joseph felt it was the most proper place for his King.

Heavily guarded, and with a stone sealing the entrance, the body of Jesus laid in the tomb while everyone rested on the Sabbath.

Early the next morning, the women walked the path to anoint the body of Christ with oil and spices.  The darkness had lifted.  The sun was rising.  Gold glittered the still damp rocks.  The morning fog hovered over the trees with metallic swirls of twinkling light. The journey to the tomb had to have been one of deep, unthinkable sorrow. I can only imagine the tears, the colors of the sunrise blurring into one; the echoes of Christ’s cries screaming out in their minds.  The picture of the blood.  The nails.  The darkness.  But as they walk up to His burial place, they have to wipe their tears to see clearly.  The crying stops.  The stone had been rolled away.  

And then, a brilliant light of white. A man. No, it’s an angel. 

“But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus Who was crucified.  He is not here, for He has risen, as he said.  Come, see the place where He lay.” -Matthew 28:5-6

Jesus had risen.  Death had no power.  Christ defeated the cold grip of death that Easter morning, and through Him we can too.  

He is alive and He loves me.  He seeks me.  He is with us until the end, if we choose.  He doesn't force His way in our hearts.  He allows us to choose, because that's what real love is.  He nudges at our hearts and awaits our invitation. 

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me.

So here it is; Christ, the King of Kings, Creator of All and Risen Lord, is knocking at the door of our hearts. Why?  Because He wants to enter in, turning this life into a feast, providing our every need, in company with Him.

In life, there are three directions that I tend to travel:  I'm either walking towards Jesus, walking away from Jesus or just floating in a stagnant state of being.  There are trends that I've noticed with those specific paths.  The farther I am from God, the more life becomes about me.  In these times, I tend to fill the spaces of life with self-gratification, and blend in more with the world around me.  I do drift from time to time.  And sometimes, before I know it, I'm so far that it's hard to hear Him.  I join in on conversations that would make me uneasy when walking towards Christ.  My thoughts and my actions, they tend to become self-indulgent.  Seeing the ugliness in people, craving more and more “me” time, getting annoyed with things that get in the way of my plans; these are the things that begin to swirl around me.  The waves become rough, making it hard to see the shore, and I can feel the pull of the current beneath me.

When I walk towards Christ, I can hear Him.  Life becomes full because the real joy that comes with selflessness seeps into the spaces.  Thankfulness and grace take over, and through Christ, I see the real beauty in people, craving more and more the opportunity to serve, feeling blessed when God opens paths that I didn't plan for myself.  Life is full with Christ.

Throughout the history of the world, God has knocked on the hearts of man.  

He calls me to Himself because He loves me.  He calls you too.  Let Him in.

Do not weep!  See the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has Triumphed! -Revelation 5:5