easter reflections

Easter has always been just another holiday to me. It has always been a sunday where I go to church, and then listen to people talk about Jesus rising from the dead. I would then go home and have an easter egg hunt and just sit around and think about candy. This year has been very different for me. It has had a lot more meaning and has been kind of a depressing weekend. Starting on good friday i have been overcome with thinking of the horrors of the crucifixion. I am amazed at how Christ, who was God in the flesh, let himself be led to the slaughter by his own creation. He was their king, their king and creator. How does that happen? What kind of evil is it to kill your own creator. And was blows me away is that Christ was able to forgive those who did it. The creator was able to forgive those who spit on him and hung him on a cross. What kind of a God is that forgiving? And I was also thinking about it from the disciples perspective, the bible seems to suggest many of them didn't understand Jesus when he said he was coming back. What a horrible night for them, to see the man they had followed as the son of God be murdered in such a brutal way. That must have been a sleepless night for most of them, it might have even been a sleepless 2 nights.

As I progressed through the weekend and got to today I have been so grateful Jesus is alive again. I am so thankful that he rose again. If he were still dead this world would have no hope, my pursuit of God would be in vain. I would be on the fast track to hell with no way out. Jesus would have proven to be a fake. I would have no hope of any salvation. But the truth is that he is alive! He came out of the tomb to the great joy of the disciples. The resurrection is the believers' joy! Let the words "He is Risen" fill you with a new and fresh joy this easter.