I thought it might be helpful to tell “the rest of the story.” I believe one of the motivating factors that contributed to the crucifixion of Jesus was the disturbance caused by the leaders of the Jews who despised and feared the message of this man called Jesus…the one who many were referring to as the Messiah, the King of The Jews. Their position of power was being threatened and for the Romans civil order and subjection to Caesar and Rome was expected from everyone. So in my view the main problem was that disturbance of the public civil order created by the Jewish power structure could no longer be ignored. The story has been told many times but it can never be told enough. Easter, also called Resurrection Day and is a Christian holiday celebrating Jesus Christ returning from the dead. Christians believe that it is the holiest day in the year. Some people who are not Christians celebrate it as a cultural holiday. A host of people we refer to as prophets, disciples, followers and saints have traveled the world sharing the good news for over 2000 or more years. I look at Easter as that day that became more than just one day, over time it has become not only an event of the highest significance, the reason for the “good news”… the promise of the forgiveness of sin, resurrection of the body and life everlasting, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is more than Easter bonnets, hats, egg hunts or cute bunnies. In some ways it suffers the same treatment given Christmas, by the  secular world…secular things first. In the mist of all those things   we lose sight of the cross. I see it as an inclusion of convenience, less we offend anyone. Harsh but that is the way I see it.

The depth and meaning of Easter is of course found in the resurrection of Jesus. This is not one of those “reason for the season” things. With the cross came the long awaited fulfillment of God’s promise to the Jews and often overlooked the “way” to God’s reconciliation with mankind. A promise kept that would require something from us… that something would be repentance. Without the  resurrection the promise is only words. The significance of that day, the power of the cross as a reminder of it is made even stronger with the symbol of the empty grave. One Day is not enough to tell the story…it is true, it is…“The Greatest Story Ever Told.” What about the rest of the story? Well, I will start off by listing two days that occur before Lent, more about that later. The first day is Shrove Tuesday and occurs before Ash Wednesday. It was originally observed as a day of confession and penitence in preparation for Ash Wednesday and Lent. Consider this… the Bible does not even mention Ash Wednesday or the 40 days of Lent, Shrove Tuesday is not a biblical observance, either. Now another consideration to be made. There is certainly nothing wrong with Christians eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. I will go ahead and write that Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and Lent are amazingly not observances God requires of Christians. Observance of these days is entirely a matter of personal conviction. So why have these three days become such a large part of the Church calendar? I will answer that in a moment. Now let’s move on to 

Ash Wednesday. 

Remember Ash Wednesday is not in the Bible but it does record accounts of people in the Old Testament using dust and ashes as symbols of repentance and mourning.  2 Samuel 13:19 (NLT)… ^“ But now Tamar tore her robe and put ashes on her head. And then, with her face in her hands, she went away crying.” Two things about Ash Wednesday … It is a time of repentance which is a good thing for Christians and really we should be doing it every day, repenting from sinful activities. It is also a good thing to work at identifying every day as being a Christian. We should also remember that no ritual can make one’s heart right with God. Therefore in the Christian vocabulary repent is a verb spelled with a capital R.

We are not to Easter yet…first there is Lent.

“Lent is a period of fasting, moderation, and self-denial traditionally observed by Catholics and some Protestant denominations. It begins with Ash Wednesday and ends with Easter Sunday.” The length of the Lenten fast was established in the 4th century as 46 days (40 days, not counting Sundays). (gotquestions.org)  While the Bible tells us God’s grace cannot be earned as it is a gift from God, doing so is and act of Atonement and yes there is a day for that.  There is so much more than just that one day…The Resurrection was such a huge event, it changed the world, the birth of Jesus changed the world, it cannot be contained in one day. There are still some days we need to go to for the rest of the story and next week we continue this journey. I struggled with how to close this week and have decided to use a prayer from the UMC Book of Common Prayer.

“O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

Life is Good

jk