Is Easter Really that Important?

It is Thursday and I am sitting in Starbucks watching people. Some are working while others are doing life together. Some are just enjoying their favorite beverage. Music is playing in the background of pots being washed and coffee being ground. It is just another normal day at Starbucks.

As people walk in and out I wonder if they are thinking about what I am thinking about? Easter is three days away. The biggest day for a church, right? Less than two thousand years ago Jesus was spending his last day with his disciples today. He had spent the last couple years with these guys teaching them to make disciples. People who would live like him. Not just for their generation but for generation after generation which brings me back to Starbucks.

Were the people in Jerusalem just going through another day like the people I am watching? Were they facing another religious festival they had to endure again like they do every year whether it is Passover or Easter?

Which leads me to this question, Is Easter just another religious festival only this time Christians claim it as their most important religious holiday. Without sounding sacrilegious is Easter really that important? When I say that, I mean the day, the Sunday once a year where we buy a new outfit, go to a specially designed service and eat a big dinner with family or friends. A Sunday in the spring when there is no Nascar!

I have to believe that when Jesus sat down with his disciples for that last Passover meal there was something more significant to Him than just another religious holiday. It was reflective for him as a human, the day God redeemed a group of people who would one day be the nation that would produce Him--the Messiah. He sat there as the fulfillment of a plan God began when death passed over the Israelites.

It was significant because when he left that room with his disciples it would end with God's will being fulfilled so that we could be redeemed. The disciples just saw it as another Passover meal with Jesus. This was their third with him.

They walked with him in the garden a journey they had taken with Jesus many times. Their friend Judas rejoins them, but this time with a crowd of soldiers and he greeted Jesus with a kiss. The kiss of death which began Jesus' journey to the cross.

It got chaotic for the disciples they scattered not willing to stand with Jesus in this journey that led to the grave. Jesus did not try to stop them because he knew this was not their journey, this was not why he had spent the last couple years with them. They had a different purpose. He groomed them to make disciples and lead the church. He did not expect them to hang around, it was not their time.

Can you imagine seeing your best friend dying an agonizing death thinking maybe you should have done something about it? Have you ever lost a friend to death? A childhood friend of mine died last year. We were close but not best friends. I sat up one night thinking about all the things we had done together. He lived in my neighborhood and was my best friends brother. We had been camping together, gone to movies together, played ball together--I had not seen him in years but started to miss him.

The disciples probably sat in the upper room reflecting back on their friend remembering everything they had done together. They had fished together, eaten meals together, traveled together--can you imagine the stories they were telling as they remembered their friend.

As they were telling these stories Jesus showed up. Their first reaction had to be disbelief. Then as they grasped the reality of what happened joy would be an understatement. Maybe they begged for forgiveness since they did not stand up for Jesus. I am sure he was quick to tell them they couldn't because it was not yet their time.

If someone who was close to me showed up after I had seen them put in the grave I would be beside myself with joy. Even if we were not the best of friends I would be telling everyone with unbridled excitement.

Easter is three days away. What is our normal response? Is it to see this Sunday as just another Easter to get through with little or no thought about what really happened. Some will see it as something they have to endure, others will ignore it all together. What about you? How will you celebrate this Sunday? Will it be just another Easter or will it have significant meaning? Will you see it as the day Jesus slammed the door on death so we could experience His undeserved grace?

I guess Easter really is important if we allow ourselves to experience the importance of Jesus' resurrection. It all depends on how we look at.

Have a great Easter Everyone!

Bake

7 Mile Memory

Growing up in Salem, Va. was special. Not only is it a great place to call home it is close to one of the most scenic places on the Appalachian Trail. Macafee Knob is one of those places that I have had the privilege of seeing several times in my life. Each time it was unforgettable. Not because it is one of the most beautiful places on earth, but each time it was special because of the people I got to experience it with.

I believe it was a Sunday afternoon in the late seventies or early eighty's when I first looked over the Blue Ridge Mountains. My father asked me to going hiking with him. I had no idea where we were going, I just new I was going to be on the Appalachian trail for the first time.

Dad and I drove to the top of Catawba Mountain, parked the car, crossed route 311 and began our journey to Macafee Knob. It is about 3.5 mile walk each way on the trail. I was reminded by my dad recently that I complained a lot of the way to the top and back down. But, it was a place I always remembered. I have often looked up pictures on the Internet and even written about standing on the knob looking out across the Blue Ridge Mountains.

As much as I did not like the hike I never forgot it. I never forgot it for two reasons. First it was a journey my dad and I did together. It was a memory we shared together and as I look back it is something I have never forgotten. Second, it was one of those moments where I got to see what my Heavenly Father created for His Creation to experience. A place that a Psalm could easily be written about explaining the splendor of God.

Two weeks ago I was standing on that same rock protruding out in what seems like midair. I never thought I would be there again.

This time I was not there with my dad but I got to go as a dad. Eli, Cole and Seth all were with me at Macafee Knob. It was special because it reminded me of being there with dad and now I was there with my sons.

I have to say, God is great for many reasons and I have been blessed in so many ways. That day I got to remember spending time with dad knowing that I was raised in a great family. I got to spend that day with my kids duplicating what my dad taught me about being a father. I realized how much my kids are like me--Eli complained all the way up and all the way down.

But most of all I got to see the splendor of God in what he created--my dad, my kids and the rock called Macafee Knob.