The Easter Post

Last night my wife and I watched a recorded version of “The Cross,” a video of Promise Keepers.  It’s a video that interestingly enough we have watched together before, but I didn’t remember.  I’ve been to a couple conferences over the years and I realized that even though this video was a couple decades old, that the message was the same.  In it, the Joe White recited Dr. Lockwood’s address of “That’s My King.”  I didn’t realize the monologue was so old.  It has sprung up in recent years as a YouTube video, so I thought it was new.



Afterwards I thought, “hmm, I like that video.  I think I’m going to share that on Facebook tomorrow (Easter Sunday).”  That’s when the proverbial record scratch occurred in my head. “Really?” I thought to myself.  “You haven’t posted that video in a long time and now all of a sudden you are going to do it on Easter?”  Now, I know what you are thinking.  The majority of people reading this post probably posted something on Facebook regarding Easter.  I don’t think this is an issue, but I do think it is a bit hypocritical if it is the only time we post something.  It’s the same thing as posting “A King Is Born!” on Christmas Day (even though Jesus wasn’t born in December) but never announcing it the rest of the year.  For the featured image of this post I used something that actually pokes fun at the whole idea of Easter Facebook posts:

ldkjh

 

Now, I don’t share this picture to poke fun at Atheists, their unshared beliefs with us, or even their counter-posts about Easter being a pagan holiday that Christians “stole” thanks to the Catholic Church’s attempted indoctrination of the world.  I actually appreciate those posts and I’ll tell you why; it exposes our own hypocrisy.  I know, Easter is supposed to be something we enjoy and celebrate and I don’t want to take away from that.  On the contrary, I want to impress upon what few readers I have that we must go farther than just Easter Sunday.

Here in Guatemala, there is no word for Easter.  They don’t recognize it as Easter.  They recognize Holy Week, in which they refer to each day as “good” (ie good Monday, Tuesday, etc.) until Sunday which is what they call Resurrection Sunday.  There are no chocolate bunnies, stale peeps, or colored eggs involved.  There are no sales in the stores for candy or decorations.  Granted, the Guatemalan culture has it’s own worldly customs they cling to during this time, but the point is that “American Christianity” distracts us more from the point than in other places in the world.  We have commercialized it.  What else to commercialize it with than food and candy…I point all this out to ask, “what about tomorrow?”  There is all this hype and hoopla from both sides leading up to Easter Sunday and then we start Monday as if nothing happened.  What is the point of getting all excited about this miraculous event that happened a couple thousand years ago if it doesn’t change us?  The Atheists should be enraged!  You should be enraged!  Who are we to preach this amazing Savior of ours who seems to do nothing for the betterment of our lives?  Why do we go along with the festival of colloquial Easter celebration (you know, encouraging all of the things that insinuate fornication and making them adaptable so kids learn it too) and on Sunday post, “He is Risen!” on Facebook and then return to our mundane lives on Monday until the following year?

I’m not just calling you out on this, I’m calling myself out too.  We fall into the trap of going along with what has been acceptable in our current society and then wonder why people turn away when you talk about Jesus (if you do at all).  I think it took me taking a real step away from all those things to be able to see it clearly.  If I were in the states this year, I probably would have bought a chocolate bunny for my wife, helped some kids color eggs, and maybe eaten a package of peeps just because “that’s what we do.”  I was talking with someone the other day and had a revelation that we accept Christ’s forgiveness through what He did on the cross and we celebrate His resurrection, but we continue living in our culture of sinfulness.  We have been given the capacity to live in a new culture, in Jesus’ culture, and discover the Kingdom of God.  Yet we keep on living as if nothing changed.  Does this not bother us?  Does this not disgust us?  Does this not reveal the truth behind the Atheists’ rejection of Christianity as a way of living a better life?  We call ourselves Christian but are nothing like Christ.  Atheists have very good reason to demonstrate their rage of Easter; you should too.

We must become enraged at our own laziness.  We must become enraged at our own hypocrisy.  We must become enraged that we continue to live in a way that is nothing like that which Christ has called us to and has made possible for us as a result of what we commemorate this weekend!  Instead of hunting for colored eggs we should be hunting for the very face of God (I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. -Proverbs 8:17).  Instead of hungering for chocolate bunnies we should be hungering for righteousness (Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. -Matthew 5:6).  Instead of having Facebook arguments to prove your own righteousness against others who “hate” on your blessed post, shower them with love (But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. -Luke 6:35).

If we truly celebrate Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection this weekend, we should live like never before tomorrow and every day.  When Jesus said, “it is finished,” it didn’t mean that it was the end, but the beginning.  Our slavery to the ways of this world are taken care of and paid for so now we can live anew and free! We are without debt and have been given the keys to the Kingdom of God to flourish and bless others abundantly, yet tomorrow we will drag our feet to work, complain about our kids, and ignore our spouses because “that’s just the way it is.”

To close, I want to share this podcast from a good friend of mine that when I first heard it a couple years ago, literally made me stop and wonder if I truly believe in what I say I believe.  Why do you do what you do?

2 thoughts on “The Easter Post

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