Good Friday and Easter

My question to you is a very simple one. Have you ever just sat down and marveled at the Good Friday and Easter story? Have you ever just sat down and felt the mix of pain, sorrow, joy, and peace of staring at a cross? If not I’m going to try to depict the images I saw, and the feelings I felt tonight. If you have then as I go over what I felt I challenge you to remember how you felt because all these feelings and the images that go along with Good Friday and Easter are where Christianity began.
The cross was not a pretty metal necklace back in Jesus’ time. It was a method of torture. Infact it was the very worst method of torture they had. It was meant not only to cause extreme pain but also incredible humiliation. The cross was used for people then Jesus but I must confess I cant tell you the name of a single one. This is because Jesus pain was much worse than even all the others. You see Jesus wasn’t only being killed on the cross he had already endured more pain and humiliation then normal men could take. Jesus was taken and flogged nearly to the point of death and laughed at. Then he was forced to carry his cross a rather long distance up a mountain. And Jesus wasn’t exactly a weight lifter and infact most of the time he didn’t have steady meals or good shoes to walk in. So he probably wasn’t the most physically fit person in the world, but it didn’t matter because spiritually, he was more then capable. After he endured all this he got nailed to a tree. Not the nice pretty 2X4 crosses we hang in the front of our churches. Tonight more than ever before I was struck by the image of his hands, his healing hands, his pure hands, being completely covered in blood. He then shouldered what can only be described as the greatest weight in all of history. He literally had the weight of the world on his shoulders, all the sins that had ever and would ever be committed fell on him in that moment. I often become overcome by the weight of my own sins and my own transgressions and that’s only part of my sins and only the sins of one person. Not billions. After enduring all this and even some more ridicule by the very thieves being crucified beside him our Lord and Savior died. Thankfully this is not the end of the story but only the beginning.
Jesus rose again. He came back just as he said he would three days later. We all know how the stone was rolled away and he wasn’t there and how he began appear to his followers. And eventually in all his glory, Jesus ascended into heaven. When he did this he did much more then only ascend alone. Because when Jesus was resurrected so were we. And when Jesus ascended so did we. We often know that Jesus carried all our sins on the cross, but we forget that he also carried all our hopes of salvation and dreams of a relationship with God into heaven. It’s such a beautiful image that even in my very best moments I still cant seem to get my head around. It’s an image that gives me hope each and every morning that I wake up, and it’s at times the image that keeps me going. Jesus wasn’t just a man, he wasn’t just a prophet or teacher or any of that. He was the redeemer of all of us. He was literally our Savior. He saved us.
I realize I’m probably not saying anything you don’t already know. However, it is these two days, Good Friday and Easter, that we are called to always remember and carry them in our hearts. Many times we get caught up in moral debates about trivial differences in theology, or politics, or anything really, but we forget that Jesus didn’t care about any of that. Jesus was a unifier. He carried ALL of our hopes and sins. Not just the Jews. Not just the Gentiles. Not just the rich. And Not just the righteous. Everyone. I just encourage you to remember all this and try to live your life always remembering what Christ did on these days, just as I will attempt to live it out too. Maybe then we can help unify too. Praise be to God. Amen.

Cause of Sin???

We as humans have a problem. We sin…. Constantly. This has never become more obvious to me then it has since I started taking a college course on sin. It is because of this class that sin and all things that are sins have been constantly on my mind…. Yet I keep sinning anyway. There are really two key types of sins that I’ve discovered. There are the sins that we perform (lie, cheat, steal) and the ones we think. Now, it is possible to keep yourself from doing most if not all the sins that must be performed because whether we accept it or not we are responsible for our actions. However the problem is in those pesky sins we think. You know when we judge someone based on what they look like or when we allow envy into our mind. Is it even possible to control what you think? Sadly, I know now that it’s not. Ironically, I have probably been sinning more since I started thinking about sin. You know how the mind works, when you tell it not to think about something, and you instantly start thinking about that. Now we get to the point of this whole speech on sin. Both of these types of sin whether thought or performed have a common factor. There is something that I believe fuels all sins and could possibly be the reason behind every sin since the Fall of Man (what a lot of sins). That something is selfishness. Just take a minute and think about it. The seven deadly sins for example: envy- we want something someone else has… selfish, lust- we want someone to fulfill our desires of the flesh…selfish, greed- we want more money or material things…selfish, wrath- we get mad because someone/something isn’t doing what we want them to do…selfish, sloth- we are lazy because we would rather sit around then help someone…selfish, pride- overly loving of yourself because you want everyones attention and all the spot light…selfish, and finally gluttony- we overindulge because we just can’t seem to get enough…you guessed it that’s selfish. Every person is selfish. It’s just in our DNA or something, but we can minimize our selfishness. The only way to minimize selfishness is by being selfless. Serving at a soup kitchen on your one day off that week sure isn’t selfish, neither is giving half the already minuscule Christmas bonus you got to the needy. These are the things that Christ would have done. Christ was able to not be selfish because he was completely selfless. No matter how obvious it seems or no matter what roundabout way I try to explain this, the end is the same. The way you act shapes the way you think and visa versa. Selflessness isn’t something that can be faked and it can only be found by truly knowing where God wants you and being completely content with it. We as Americans are taught never to be content we should always strive to be something better and greater, but I say that there is nothing greater or better than a servant of our Lord. Glory be to God. Amen