Preparing for Easter?

sorry for taking a detour from MTB...but wanted to share some Easter thoughts since it's just a few days away. Easter seems like almost an afterthought if/when we compare it to Christmas. For Christmas, many of us would spend up to a month (even more for some) preparing for it...making up gift lists for our friends as well as for ourselves, going out window shopping to see if we can find that perfect gift, planning "holiday" get-togethers, looking forward to the dinners and times spent with friends at fellowship and at church. Has there been any type of similar "buzz" in the last few weeks as we approach Easter? It's rather interesting that the public school system gives students the week before Easter off (it couldn't possibly be so that we can "prepare" for Easter, could it?). What are some of the activities we've engaged in this week if we had it off? Family/friend vacations, staying up late at night, hanging out with friends etc. etc. On the week leading up to Christmas, what do we normally do? Quite the contrast huh?

But Christmas is not Christmas, at least not the true meaning of Christmas, if it were not for Easter. The greatest story ever given to man is only complete with the "introduction" of Christmas, the "cliff hanger" of Good Friday (will Jesus go to the Cross or disobey His Father? Jesus didn't have to die for sinful man!) and the dramatic "conclusion" of Easter Sunday (would Jesus truly rise after being crucified?). Everything that we believe in hinges on Easter happening. Because if Christ did not rise after being nailed on the Cross, the whole Christian faith would be a fallacy. All the prophesies would have been just that...prophesies without realization...aka lies. So it's not too late brothers and sisters...to get our mindset right...to prepare ourselves to be in the company of Jesus going on the Cross on Friday...and then the dramatic conclusion on Easter Sunday.

below is another person's thoughts about Easter which prompted me to write the above :)

Easter Thoughts Upon Watching "The Green Mile" - April 08, 2009

In watching the movie, "The Green Mile" recently, I was made to think that Jesus' trek to the "green hill far away" began with a walk similar to the penitentiary "green mile" in the movie. The movie, set in Louisiana in 1935 on death row, was a place known to guards and inmates alike as "the green mile" because of the shiny green linoleum that led from the cells to the electric chair.

In "The Green Mile," one inmate has magical or supernatural powers (one would expect such in a Steven King novel/movie) and the inmate brings a pet mouse back to life for a sweet old (if a little crazy) condemned man, hinting that there is life beyond the Chair for repentant criminals. The inmate feels the pain of everyone so intensely he is compelled to help them.

On one discussion board about "The Green Mile," one person said, "If you want to see a movie that really portrays the essence of a man who was given a gift by God, felt the pain of the world constantly, did miracles and was willing to die in innocence, it's "The Green Mile." Another bulletin board poster wrote, "Stephen King's character John Coffey [J.C.-get it?] is brilliant. And then you have the guards who must fulfill the Pontius Pilot role [killing Coffey] so reluctantly because they know the truth."

But as I thought about the resurrection theme, I also wondered if it is appropriate to think about Jesus living the life of a condemned person, like those on death row, since he knew that he would end up being executed by the state. As young as eight days old, when Jesus was taken to the temple to be blessed by the elderly prophet Simeon. Simeon tells Mary and Joseph, "And a sword will pierce your own soul, too" (Luke 2:35). It is a theme that was pointed in Isaiah in the Old Testament: "He was pierced for our transgression ... and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 54:5). Jesus starts hinting at his execution overtly in his last week on earth. If one looks at the overall sweep of the Old and New Testament you see that God's plan is centered on his son, Jesus, for saving humanity after Adam and Eve ruined Paradise by exercising free choice.

According to at least some biblical scholars, it is clear that the timing of Jesus' death is planned during the Passover observances to make it very obvious to the whole world that Jesus is the sacrificial lamb. Even the hour of death points to that role. The tradition in Old Testament times was for the high priest to kill the lamb at the 9th hour of the day (three in the afternoon) which is when we observe Christ's death on Good Friday. You will recall that in the Jewish tradition, the lamb was used during Old Testament times to cover the sins of humanity. So Jesus is the Passover lamb.

Now, if all of this is too gory and too simplistic (how can people even believe this stuff about God?) bear with me. As one biblical scholar, John Piper, senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis; put it sharply, "If you ask who killed Jesus, God did." If you feel that is too "abusive" or sadistic, we must be clear that if we believe Jesus and God were one, then it was also God who suffered deep emotional and physical pain as he gave up his life through his son Jesus on the cross. God suffered all of it with Jesus.

But that was not the end of God's plan. If it ended there, we would have a lot more questions to ask. The end is really the beginning-the whole point of the plot. Suffering and death are demolished for Jesus and for all of us who believe, through the resurrection.

Yes, it takes a leap of faith to believe in the resurrection. But the Christian religion is a fraud without the resurrection. If you believe in God at all, wouldn't you rather you stake your life on believing that God Almighty has something in mind for our immortal souls after our brief span of time on this earth is done?

Contributed by Melodie Davis from her weekly column ANOTHER WAY (http://www.thirdway.com/aw/awmain.html).