April 12

Easter Sunday:  It's difficult for me to write about Easter this year, because it is so absolutely different from any other Easter I've ever experienced. The impact of Jesus being alive was, I think, more real this year probably due to things I have been studying from Scripture and other books I have been reading, along with pastor's sermons. 

Growing up in a Baptist church, we rarely concentrated on Christ's death, His crucifixion--because, after all, that would be "too Catholic." But the older I get, the more I realize the necessity of focusing on the price Jesus paid to clear my debt of sin. I need to think about His human body feeling pain, His human mind processing rejection and suffering, His human heart aching with love for us human beings. If I don't think about those things, having Jesus come alive from the dead doesn't mean very much. But He did resurrect, and that very same human body of His that He had here on earth, He has now in heaven. And because He defeated death, someday I will too--because I share in everything Jesus accomplished. 

 I LiveStreamed the service from Calvary. Above is our "virtual" orchestra playing a beautiful song for us. And below is some of the members of our praise teams, leading in worship. The girl in the green dress has the most beautiful voice--it appears that she doesn't even have to try to sing beautifully--when she opens her mouth, it just happens. We sang a lot of good "coming alive" songs.

Pastor taught from Luke 10 and the parable of the Good Samaritan, which I thought an unlikely passage for Easter. But pastor was teaching "depth of love" and what it means to really love someone.   So this poor guy is on the Jericho road and is beaten up, robbed, his clothes stolen, and left for dead. A priest and a Levite come by (separately), look at the dying man, and walk by. Why? Maybe they are worried the robbers are still nearby? Is this guy dead--if so, they would become "unclean" if they touched him. So they walk on by. 

But then a Samaritan (outcast, mixed race, tainted) sees the half dead man and takes incredible care of him. He took pity (had compassion). He bandaged his wounds. He put the man on his own donkey and takes him to a safe place, an "inn" to be cared for. He paid the innkeeper and told him he would reimburse him more money on his way back. The Samaritan covered all of the bases. He went over and above what most people would do. He showed MERCY. He had a depth of love for this man that he had never met before. 

Pastor then said that when we love people out of OBLIGATION, usually when we ask "is there anything I can help you with?" we are usually hoping the person says NO. But when you deeply love someone and ask them that same question, you are LONGING for them to say YES. Jesus loves us like that. He proved it by becoming fully human, KNOWING He would become tainted and unclean with our humanity. When Jesus was born, it was with the full knowledge that He had a 100% chance of dying--and still He came. With His death, He defeated death for all who believe. His heart beats. It still beats. It's beating NOW. He is risen! He is risen indeed.