The story of Easter contains a wild mixture of emotions for everyone who was there from Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem where the crowds wished to make Him the king of Israel, to His weeping while praying to His Father in the garden as His disciples slept, through the dark of night arrest, the multiple trials resulting in His crucifixion and, finally and most importantly, His majestic resurrection!
From the highest of highs (His people wanting to make Jesus king) to the lowest of lows (Peter’s thrice denial of knowing Him), Jesus’ disciples must have felt as if their hearts had been literally shredded from all that occurred that one amazing week in Jerusalem.
Our Christian faith sometimes runs along with these same types of wild emotions, but it should not. Jesus is our chief cornerstone, our rock, and the foundation of our faith – all words indicating a very solid strength. His horrendous death on the cross and His exciting angel-filled resurrection from the grave (how wonderful that both actions caused the Earth to cry out in response) show us that this solid rock of our belief is firmly settled in place. When Jesus said “It is finished” from the cross, He meant it. We are now free from being burdened by sin because Jesus has broken the chains to set us free.
In my life I have found that sin is what causes so many of my wilder emotions, or possibly it is my wilder emotions that cause me to sin. When I was with my family recently I was confronted by the never-ending gossip that moves among my relatives. Hardly ever are there facts involved, but the negative remembrances cover plenty of supposition and defamation – years in the making. The vague recalls of supposed wrongs are shared by the older relatives with the next generation, who will, I suppose, share them with their children.
In the midst of the second of these instances that occurred in my presence I loudly said, “Stop it.” Heads around the table swiveled to see and hear what was going on. I tried to soften my voice as I explain that as Christians we are not to continue digging in the dirty trash but to forgive as God forgives us – remembering no more as far as the east is from the west. I faced looks of skepticism and unbelief that this mere idle talk was as abhorrent as I made it out to be, but thankfully the conversation then took a turn of direction – at least within my hearing.
Of course, here I sit very remorseful and apologizing to my Father because I couldn’t at the start just calmly and quietly have stated my case. Emotions always run high when we are critiqued or corrected, so if the words needed to be said I should have been able to say them in a calm voice and in a loving yet firm manner. Loudly telling my family to “Stop it” was way out of the character attributes that God has been teaching me.
But then, that is what makes Easter so blessed. When I am remorseful and tell my Father God that I have sinned and am ashamed, He forgives me. He does this because dear Jesus, His Son, took my punishment for that sin on the cross. He died to set me free to live a better life – one with Him. What a blessed gift. That is why we, His saints, can sometimes be heard whispering, “Oh, thank you sweet Jesus,” because He sacrificed His life to take away our sin and set us free.
What sweeter gift could there be than life? God gave me life because the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden gave me death. The only possible cure from that moment on was the action that my Savior Jesus took to die the horrible humiliating death that I deserved – His death in place of mine for the punishment I deserve.
The emotions of the retelling of the Easter story are nowhere near as great as the emotion I feel when I repent of my sin and know that I am truly forgiven – my life is then a clean slate to start again through Jesus’ gift of life. Oh, my sweet, sweet Jesus, thank you.
May each of us be blessed this Easter by knowing in our hearts Jesus’ sweet gift of forgiveness.
Editor’s note: Amy Patsch writes from Ocean City. Email her at writerGoodGod@gmail.com.
