Tag Archives: Easter
Emotions of Easter: Despair
To us this is the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The day after Jesus died, but the day before he rose again.
To Jesus’ followers, this was only the day after Good Friday. They didn’t have the anticipation of waiting for Easter Sunday. All they had was the sorrow.
And imagine how deep that sorrow must have been. Not only had their leader died, (and one of their closest friends betrayed him, then killed himself) they had lost their whole purpose in life.
For years their life had been following Jesus. They had given up their jobs, and secure stable lives for him. Now that Jesus was dead, what did they have left to live for? Their lives had been totally turned upside down. They must have felt completely let down, as if they had no hope on that day.
As Christian, I think we are often living in that Saturday frame of mind. We can look around the world and see so much pain and suffering, and really at times it all feels too much.
Maybe, you personally feel like you are living in the despair and hopelessness of the Saturday. It feels like everything used to be so good. That you were walking closely with God, but somehow, things have happened, and it feels like he is distant that.
Even though naturally, we may be living in the Saturday. Super-naturally, we can live with the hope of Sunday.
We have the hope that one day God will make sense of the pain and suffering, and that one day it will be no more.
Emotions of Easter: Confusion
Today is Maundy Thursday, the day Christians typically remember Jesus’ last supper with his disciples.
As I was thinking about this passage there was one emotion that sprang to mind, and that’s confusion.
You see, the last supper was actually a passover meal. A traditional meal that Jesus’ disciples would have celebrated every year. And traditions rarely change. But Jesus turned this tradition completely on it’s head when he picked up the bread and said: “This is my body broken for you.” And passed around the wine saying: “This is my blood shed for you.”
These are words which we may have heard so many times before. Words which we may have become so used to that they have almost lost their meaning. Words, which from where we stand, we can understand the full meaning. We know that Jesus was referring to his death, which was to take place the next day.
The disciples would not have yet fully understood this. Why was Jesus so completely changing this traditional meal.
Sometimes things in our life may happen that make absolutely no sense. I am currently going through a very difficult time in my life, having recently left a husband who was abusive, and return to my parents home. From where I am standing right now, it is almost impossible for me to understand why God has allowed this to happen to me. I just have to have faith that God knows what He is doing, and that one day it will all make sense.
In the same way that from where the disciples were standing, the last supper wouldn’t have made much sense, but just one day later they would have understood it. And more than that, it made sense of the future.
Emotions of Easter: Indignation
We all think that we are better than someone. We just might not realise it.
Maybe it’s that person who you work with, who seems to do everything so slowly, and then takes extended lunch breaks!
Maybe it’s that lady you know who has a baby, yet abandons it to go out partying every other weekend. Continue reading
Journey Through Holy Week: Amazement
Sometimes I read things in the bible that seem just plain weird. Like they don’t make any sense at all.
That happened to me last night. I was reading about how, the day after Jesus rode into Jerusalem, he walked back into town. On the way he started to feel hungry, and saw a fig tree. The only problem was that the fig tree was all fur coat and no knickers. (Or in this case all leaf and no fruit.) Jesus then rebuked the tree, saying it would never bear fruit again. The tree then shrivelled up and died.
This was not the part that didn’t make sense to me though. It was in the next line, which reads: The disciples were amazed.
Now, the disciples had been following Jesus for a long time. They had seen him heal the blind and lame, feed thousands with couple of fish and a few loaves of bread. They had even seen him raise the dead! But when they saw him make a tree shrivel up they were amazed.
In comparison to raising the dead, making a tree shrivel up doesn’t seem that impressive. If I were one of the disciples I would have been asking Jesus for a better miracle!
Actually I think I do that in my own life as well.
I think that we all do. We can look at the things that God has done in our life in the past, and get angry and wonder why he isn’t blessing us like that anymore.
When actually he is still blessing us. We have just lost the wonder of it. Like an old married couple who no longer have anything to say to each other, we have let the spark in our relationship with God grow dim.
Or maybe you see what God is doing in somebody else’s life and get jealous, and question why God isn’t working in your life in the exact same way.
When he is blessing you just as much, just in a different way to your friends.
This week lets not lose the amazement of what Jesus has done in our lives.
Me Set Free 