Part 3: Easter Rant/ The Holy Spirit from an Empty Tomb

(Google Images)

     Honestly I really am not sure what to say for this one, or rather I am sure what to say, but this won't be a feel good just "He is risen" post. That will come but first I have to take care of a few things. I am in part tired of the hype of Easter because it loses the meaning of the most important story of all time. I will tackle a couple of things in this one before I get to the conclusion of the story so just travel along this journey or rant, whichever you choose to name it, if you want to. I will label the sections so if you want to just skip to the conclusion of the Part 3 of my posts then by all means skip over it and go there. Or if you will get offended, you may want to skip this next part.


1) Your Gonna Wish You Skipped It...

     You have to choose which side of the spectrum you want to lean more closely to. Side 1 is the happy Easter bunny basket egg hunt side. Truthfully, if you are reading this pretty much Christian based blog of mine then you are not dancing fully on this side, but I need to still clarify what this side entails. This is the "Happy Holidays" side. This is the side where you let yourself get wrapped up in all the marketing and manufacturing of a holiday where there shouldn't have been anything. First of all, guess what your doing with your bunny and egg holiday?! Do you even know where the "Easter bunny" and "Easter eggs" originated? I can tell you this one thing, it certainly was not from anything Christian related, quite frankly, it is from the opposite end of anything good really. Here is an article from Discovery about this very subject:

"According to the University of Florida's Center for Children's Literature and Culture, the origin of the celebration — and the origin of the Easter Bunny — can be traced back to 13th-century, pre-Christian Germany, when people worshiped several gods and goddesses. The Teutonic deity Eostra was the goddess of spring and fertility, and feasts were held in her honor on the Vernal Equinox. Her symbol was the rabbit because of the animal’s high reproduction rate....Spring also symbolized new life and rebirth; eggs were an ancient symbol of fertility. According to History.com, Easter eggs represent Jesus' resurrection. However, this association came much later when Roman Catholicism became the dominant religion in Germany in the 15th century and merged with already ingrained pagan beliefs."

     Hey so guess what people? Your eggs and bunny isn't really rooted from anything all that innocent. Okay look, don't point at me for being "That guy" who is "too serious" and a "fuddy duddy" or however you wish to falsely label me because I believe those labelled people are on the opposite side of the spectrum really. (Note I didn't say its the wrong side, but thats where those people lay) I do not believe it is wrong to have an Easter egg hunt, I had one as a kid and I enjoyed it, it was fun. But I mean on the other hand, I really don't like it either. I think it is one of the things we as Christians don't really know what to do with. Everyone, including myself because I just said it, says that it is okay, nothing is wrong with it, and yadda yadda yadda. But when will it get to the point in our culture when the bunny and the eggs thing REALLY trumps the actual meaning of Easter? And if this time ever comes can we look back and say "Why didn't I focus more on Christ than on bunnies and eggs?" Honestly I also don't know what to do about it either. If I am the first one, or if your the first one even, to speak up about it we are instantly labelled and well, we become "thoooooose people". And golly we just don't want that over our heads now do we? As America its now okay not to stick up for what you believe in. Watched the news lately? The metaphorical "bunnies and eggs" of our whole entire society are winning right now people and we are sitting back, eating our Peeps and taking Facebook "selfies" labelled "Happy Easter" (that will get some dislikes but when is "Happy Easter" about you and your self portrait? I know its innocent don't get me wrong and don't hate me but its just a point that fits in with what I'm saying and no taking pictures with family isn't what I am talking about its the lasting effort to somehow make anything that is about Christ about us. We all do it in different ways too though so don't worry) as the world STILL remains lost and STILL is hopeless. How in the WORLD is it easier to believe in a bushy tailed creature dancing around but not Jesus Christ? Where have we went wrong where Christ wasn't good enough so it was time to adopt Pagan beliefs? Label me what you will but I don't care, if you don't see anything wrong with this whole picture I made a case for, then read it again.

2) Now That Your Heated, Smile Because Now He's With Us!

     I need not go into the whole Jesus being raised from the dead story. For Matthews account you can look into his gospel around Chapter 27 I believe for just one account of the Resurrection. I think what is most important about Jesus being raised from the dead is not the fact that Jesus is now out form the tomb, which is very important, but that the Holy Spirit is now with us. I think this is the most beautiful picture of the whole process of the birth, death, resurrection and coming of the Holy Spirit. Don't get me wrong it is very important to know all of those things and the accounts of those happenings but still I think what is the most beneficial to the Great Commission and leading people to Christ is that intermediary that is the Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit we would...well I don't know exactly what we would do. Make an empty decision without conviction and repentance maybe? That's really an unanswerable question, one of those that you don't know "what if" ordeals. But the beautiful thing is that it did happen and that it is our direct link with witnessing to others and feeling the presence and power of Christ within our hearts and our convictions as well. So the tomb being empty is a sign of victory for the followers of Christ! Can you imagine the in-between day? It's our Saturday but its the day where we don't know what to do. Friday is Good Friday and we discuss and contemplate the cross and what it means. On Sunday we celebrate His resurrection. Saturday? Watch tv? Eat good meals? Family time? I mean if its awkward for us, for the followers of Christ but mainly His disciples can you imagine how horrible that day was. The Savior you saw and believed in front of your very eyes is now dead and defeated! He now lay in a tomb sealed up for this entire day! I would be very depressed during this time. But there's the hope that Christ gave them though that they held on to. There was a hope that the Spirit was coming and by it they could act out their "spiritual" gifts that will be bestowed upon them and with this news their spirits were downtrodden yes but also their expectations were high for the arrival of what Jesus foretold. Then the Spirit came and by it some performed miracles and other gifts they had now been able to lead out by the power of God in their midsts. That is truly what I think about getting out of Easter. It was not only the death of death, but it was the birth of the Spirit. Not only that Jesus defeated the grave but now we have the power of the Spirit which is equal to that of having Jesus in the flesh. All we have to do now is to pray and go out and make disciples and do all we humanly can. There is a point where we do all we can do then the Holy Spirit of God has to move to actually change hearts. That to me is the true joy of Easter knowing I have God's spirit on my side within my midst now I feel unstoppable!

The Penitent Thief: His Story

         " I have wept all morning. That's all I know to do. I know what I've done wrong, and now I must pay. I am the guilty one. I am a dirty, petty thief. Today I am going to be crucified. Do you understand how heartbreaking this morning was? Saying goodbye to your family for the last time...no you don't get that. Unless you've been where I've been you don't get it. But I have to realize I have done wrong. I know I have. And honestly I kept doing wrong too. I not only would fail my family everyday but I would constantly fail myself as well. I am broken, down trodden, fallen to pieces and have nowhere else to turn. No one will accept me. My family gave me awkward glances and goodbyes offering no second chances. Their family member is going to die on a cross for his wrongdoings, why should we love him? You know what, for the first while, I blamed them. I was their kin. I thought how can you turn on someone like that? Well my answer is now as clear as the sky above me and that is, if I can turn on them instantly and daily, how can I be surprised? I mean I expect a family to welcome me with open arms after I live my life of crime right under their noses? Once again, I am the guilty one.

     This preparatory chamber is dark and cold. It is almost as worse as my chamber in which the guards keeps me imprisoned. All I'm allowed to wear as garments are measly cloths around my waist. I am unclothed for the most part and cold. As cold as my heart. My heart has never been so cold as it is now. Some say hearts are the coldest on the eve after the crime, but I say to the contrare it is actually during the reflection period when the healing seems to never come is when the heart feels the coldest. What am I saying, they are coming in shortly to give me my piece of wood, a crucifix, to carry to my death hill. Why do my pleas of the mind amount to anything at this point?

     The pleas of my mind!? What about the pleas of my soul? I am too unworthy to even say His name anymore! I am a dirty human being! I am apart from my soul and now I will be sent into the underlings of hell where I belong! Oh what's the point in not trying? HEAR MY CRY OH LORD! To you I cry out in my deepest darkest moment where you are probably so far away you've shunned my words away from your ears! I bet the gatekeepers of heaven only hear my cries as whispers in the wind I am so far away from you God! Oh Lord if there is any chance of you saving me let it be now! I have no sacrifice! I really don't know what to believe anymore either Lord. I know the Pharisees wouldn't let me see the light of the day in your temple so what is my other option? Who is this man that is walking around here and is he from you, Lord? I know the wrong I've done, I am a dirty nasty thief and deserve death and well, now I get it."
   
     The thief takes up his cross and begins the journey onto the hill. He notices when he is beginning his first round of lashes there is not the normal crowd gathered equally to each of the three criminals but mainly today they are gathered around the middle. The crowd is overwhelming for this criminal. All the thief sees is a cross though, he is too short and receiving too much brute force to try and glance any further in that direction than he can and is now forced just to continue to keep walking. There is never a crowd this large gathered for normal criminals so the thief knows this must be a murderer of a great multitude of individuals hence the reason for the large gathering of people for a crucifixion. He barely has time to raise his forehead up towards heaven before another blow to the head almost renders him unconscious. In his heart he's ready for death. He prays that God will somehow save him but he knows that's impossible.

     He arrives at the hill and is nailed to the cross. Agonizing screams are cumbersome compared to the sound of the nails on the wood. With the help of the Roman guards, he is hoisted into his position beside the middle cross. His eyes are almsot swollen shut now. He tries with all his might to open them again and when he does, he begins to scream for another reason. He squints a picture of a man he's seen before. He wasn't sure where because at this point his memory is almsot as cloudy as his vision and his mind much less coherent than even a little bit ago in the preparatory chamber. Even with his handicap he still notices who the man is. This is the man they claim is named Jesus.

     "Nooooo. I don't understand!...........I...I don't get it.....Why is he here?!"

     The thief knew the man was innocent. Upon the man they called Jesus's approach, another thief was hoisted on the other side and this thief began to look at the man called Jesus with disbelief as well but it was a different kind. All attention, including that of our penitent thief, shifted towards the man in the center. His nails were more powerful, and his screams more piercing. This sounded like no man. This sounded like suffering and pain manufactured from all of the voices of the people of the world who have ever hopelessly cried out into the night. He was hoisted up in his postion into the middle and all eyes were on Him.

    Time went by and the thief could barely breathe. It seems that all thought had left him and now he hung there as a vegetable hangs on a garden plant about to be eaten but in his case the ever looming tomb takes the place of the hungry mouth. The light is starting to fade then he hears it. No, not from the man in the middle this time, it was from the other criminal. The other criminal shouted "Are you not the Christ? Then save yourself, and us!"

    "This was Him! Not the him, but the HIM! This Jesus is the son of God everyone had claimed he was. I see it more clearly now than ever! While by now my eyesight has left me, I know who this man is and it is no normal man but the Messiah. But wait? Why is he on a cross like me? I am the guilty one, I deserve death but why him? Why is he like me? Why is this other criminal on the far side of the Messiah shouting at Him? I don't understand this"

     His thoughts fell silent as did his consciousness, something within him ignited another breath and he shouted aloud in the direction towards the other two.

    “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!"

     "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise."

     Tears of joy streamed down the face of the criminal. He tried to form another thought or another word but in that time of extreme joy, physical death overcame him. But after all of his pleas, when he thought God was the furthest away from him, God sent His son Jesus to die for the sins of not only this thief but for everyone. I hope you've enjoyed this fictional account I created from the thief's point of view. I could go into reasoning why I shifted between 1st and 3rd person but that's unimportant. What is important is that if you already know the story then this can offer you an alternative. If you do not know the story of Jesus however I encourage you to read all four accounts of it all written a little differently in the four gospels of the Bible. That is all and this concludes the Part 2 of my 3 part Easter blog posts. Tomorrows is for celebration!!!!

   

Part 1 of 3: The Beginning of the Beginning

(All images in this blog post gathered from Google Image Search)

Born into the world like any other human being, He lay there in the straw that starry night. Upon His arrival, blurred visions clouded His undeveloped, just opened eyes. Reaching for Him, He felt the warm, comforting grasp of His mother's arms and He realized all will be okay. But there was something different about this baby boy that made Him very much unlike any other human being. He was part man and part God. There isn't a more beautiful story of a beginning to anything. It's quite poetic, historical, and jaw dropping all in one.

 I wonder if He knew that His real Father was above instantly at birth, or did that come later on in a dream/vision/direct contact of sorts? Either way this is the beginning of the story of the Savior of this world named Jesus. Yes this is a real story. If you can believe that George Washington was our first president based on historical texts out of books bound the same way the Bible is bound, then you can believe in Jesus. None of you were there for Washington's inauguration as none of you were there during Jesus's time so it takes faith to believe in each account. So what's the difference? What's so special about Jesus that makes Him different from Washington or Honest Abe?

The story of Jesus has changed the world. Period. The story of Gandhi is a great one. It is a good story and lesson on non-violence and how to win a war without fighting but instead standing firm on what you believe in. I encourage all of you to go and watch the movie Gandhi. Its a great movie and he was a great man. But that was it, he was just a great man and not a god, just a man. Another one is Muhammed. Yes, although a "prophet", he also was no god, but a man. So what makes Jesus different than everyone else in the history of this world? He claimed to be one with God the Father. That is what started this whole debacle right at, to right over, 2,000 years ago. Let's look at a brief summary of the importance of this week in history shall we? This is a loose schedule and some scholars argue its one way and some argue another, but all in all this is pretty accurate.

Day One- This was known as Palm Sunday. This is the day that Jesus arrived into the city of Jerusalem for the Jewish festival known as Passover. He fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 that stated loosely that Jesus would arrive on a donkey into the city.

Day Two- Jesus gets angry and turns over the tables in the temple. During Passover, as like every single holiday of America today, the Jewish people market the Passover to make a prophet by offering currency exchange as well as selling animals for the Jews to sacrifice to God during these days. As He should, Jesus enters into the temple very angry turning over merchant tables and obviously frustrated makes this statement. "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be a house of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves." (Luke 19:46). This obviously caught some attention.

Day Three- Mainly Jesus travels to the Mount of Olives to share several famous parables to His disciples. Also it is believed that this day was the one in which Judas started his negotiations with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus.

Day Four- Interesting day here. The Bible doesn't say much about this day really. Many scholars speculate that Jesus remained silent on this day because He was rather exhausted. Many believed He spent this day with His disciples in the town of Bethany right near Jerusalem. This is where Lazurus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, and his two sisters Mary and Martha resided. This day is nicknamed as "Silent Wednesday".

Day Five- This is the day the infamous Passover feast takes place between Jesus and His followers. Here Jesus demonstrates how they should remember Him and also shares the news that this will be His last meal with His disciples but that they not need be afraid for what's ahead. This is also called the Lord's Supper, or Communion. Much more can be written about the significance of this meal, but for your sake and in the interest of promptness, we will leave it there for now. Jesus leaves this scene and heads to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus makes His prayer and plea to the Father above, and also this is when Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss before His arrest. Peter tells Jesus he will never betray Him but in the late hours of the night and into the early hours of the morning, while Jesus is being judged by the High Priest and the rest of the council, Peter does deny Christ three times.

For now, since this is still Thursday (welll, pretty much haha) and "Good Friday" isn't until tomorrow, I will stop the timeline here. Let's reflect shortly on these events. These events were prophesied about in the Old Testament before they even occurred mostly. Days 1-4 are significant mainly because they all have lessons that we can learn from them. Yes they are significant in the interest of history as of what they lead up to and what they offer in themselves as the story of Jesus, but also think about what we can get from each of these days.

Day 1: Look at the prophecies of the Old Testament and see how they are all fulfilled in the New Testament. That's humanly improbable, but that's why it took someone not human to fulfill them.
Day 2: What can we learn from Jesus's acts displayed in the temple? Why did He get so mad? And what can we learn from this event to apply to our everyday lives? Hey sometimes, its okay to get a little frustrated.
Day 3: What's so important about being silent and resting like He did? Should He have rested? This day was not as much significant for Jerusalem I bet but rather Bethany where I'm sure many came to know Christ in this town.
Day 4: Okay, so I eat a little nasty cracker and drink lukewarm grape juice out of a plastic cup no one ever knows what to do with when its over. So, why is this SO significant to Christians? This is one of the ceremonies that no matter how contemporary the church, it sticks? Why was this feast and this moment so life changing? And what does it all mean for us?

I hate giving questions in my blog posts unless they are rhetorical  But these days are just so packed with information I cannot possibly relay the meaning to all of this to you and especially when, as long as the facts are correct, many of you can get out of this story so many different things on so many different personal levels. Maybe your struggling from talking too much and going overboard and just haven't taken that time to be silent for a day like Jesus did. Maybe your sweat is piling up about some unknown issue like Jesus felt on that day in the Garden. Or maybe you needed some more understanding and this will encourage you to read more going forward. Either way, I hope some people got something out of this post. It will probably be my longest one yet! As you may recall from the title, this is only Part 1 of a series of 3 posts with Easter being the final one on Sunday. I will finish the chronology then and hopefully offer some more interesting information from my noodle on those two posts because I know this one was rather dry and factual, but essential still. Watch for Part 2 tomorrow!

You'll Never Stop Loving Us, No Matter How Far We Run

Photo Credit: http://mindfulbalance.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/running-away-2.jpg

     It isn't just our choice, we don't wake up and choose it, and for sure we don't want to live our lives this way but it is our inherent nature to turn away from God. Our souls and inner beings are naturally evil. I don't mean supervillan evil but instead worldly evil. We don't naturally turn to God but instead turn away from Him daily. Living in this success, money and power driven culture we are taught that the absence of God is okay. We don't need Him to function daily which is why in our schedules there seems to be an absence of Him. Think of it as running a race. The finish line is there, but we are constantly running the opposite direction away from God naturally and we pile so much stuff on our plates it makes it seem okay that God isn't there.


When we wake up and start our day the world is on our minds for the most of us. Here's your average adult schedule:

6: Wake up
6:15: Really wake up
7-8: Get ready for work/breakfast/kids/be at work
8-9 to 5-6: Work
5-8ish: Supper/Kids/Getting home/sports/chores/homework
Around 9ish-Slowly start the zombie relaxed mode and into me time. Some don't get me time because some are on the move straight until bed.

Okay so that's tentative and sloppy and it's different with everyone but can't you see some reflection of your schedule in that mix? I know I can. What's so disheartening is that within the schedule, where did I make room for God?

I know it is a lot to ask to try and add an additional outlet to our busy schedules but I mean if we are Christians, God has to be in there somewhere. We have to make room for God. When we get home or even when we wake up. At SOME point, we have to make room for Him. If God sent His son, a human being just like you and me, who suffered offering up His life for the sake to save our petty, undeserving human souls then we can't even give Him 15 minutes? Has America grabbed us and brainwashed us so much that God isn't a part of our schedule anymore? Yeah, His ministry is my life but I am not perfect and never claimed to be. I mess up and there are some days where I guess I believe I don't have time, or don't make time rather, for God and I promise you those days are a lot less fulfilling then the days I do choose Him. I think it makes sense though. Even though as I mentioned earlier our nature is to run away from God, when we choose God, it makes Him smile and He blesses us with that sense of fulfillment. I think God is saying, "I choose you everyday because you don't understand my love for you, and when you choose me, I share it with you." That right there is the most beautiful depiction in our whole universe. I snatched the title of this post from one of Chris Tomlin/Passion's new album songs called "God's Great Dance Floor". The line is simply what the post title says it is. Its amazing that no matter how many days we wake up and make no time for Him, how many times we turn against God and run our own way (which, people, our own way is the wrong way) that He still opens His arms and NEVER stops loving us. How many people do you know that would still love you constantly even when on a daily basis you stab them in the back? The answer is 0. Just think about that right there. That is a comforting and amazing view of God and his unfailing love for us when we for sure deserve nothing like that due to how many times we turn our backs on Him.

End of Post Prayer:
Thank you God that your judgement isn't like that of ours because if you weren't God, you would've been done with us humans a LONG time ago. Thank you so much for putting up with my backstabbing, sinning and constant failure. Thank you God that you never stop loving me, no matter how far I run.