Thoughts on Easter

Good Friday thoughts from last year still resound.

Here are some from this year:

Matthew
I was reading the last couple of chapters of Matthew and noticed a theme, the question: what will you do with what you know?
Matthew 25-
>The wise and foolish virgins both knew they would need light, but only the wise virgins came prepared.
>The man with the one talent knew his master "to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed" (v 24). Yet that produced the wrong response: "I was afraid" (v 25) rather than the ingenuity of the other two servants, although wise use of the talent was not beyond his ability (v 15)
Matthew 26-
>Mary exhibited the right response (giving sacrificially) and this is her tribute: "wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her" (v 12)
>So did "a certain man." He was not rewarded. He was not even named. He was just ready to serve, and hosted Jesus for His last meal on earth.
>Judas on the other hand... who would have had more knowledge? One of the Twelve, privy to all Christ's councils, explanations, care. Jesus had poured into him for three years, and yet he betrayed Him
>Peter the same. We forget he betrayed Him too. Here he promises never to betray Him, even if he has to die. Then in the same chapter Peter brutally denies Him, not once but thrice.
>And of course there is the Sanhedrian. Talk about knowledge! But what is their response?
>Finally, Joseph shows his allegiance - a little late - when Jesus had already died. He had been a follower of Christ (first right response) though apparently in secret. Then he asks for the body of Christ (second right response). Remember what his action at this point meant. He was associating himself with one his fellows had just condemned (he was a member of the Sanhedrian). He would be ostracized, maybe cast out, and for all he knew it made no difference. There was no hope. Yet he had to do something, and in so doing fulfilled a prophecy.

What will you do with what you know?

Leviticus 16-
I'm sure you've heard of a scapegoat. "A person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others, esp. for reasons of expediency." But do you know its origin? Leviticus 16. On the Day of Atonement the priest brought two goats. One was sacrificed as an offering for sin. Over the other was spoken the sins of the nation. That goat took on the sins of the nation, in God's eyes. It was sent into the wilderness. The wilderness symbolized testing, trial, pain. It was sent outside the camp. The camp symbolized fellowship, God's chosen, His presence. Outside the camp the unclean were forced to live and anything unclean was cast. Eventually, the goat died, and with it evaporated the peoples' sins. Christ was tested and tried with pain, cast out of fellowship of people and the presence of God, and made unclean. Bearing our sins, He died, and so did our sin. He is our scapegoat.

Romans 6-
Last night, Mr. Lechner gave two excellent reasons why the Cross is Good News, why Friday is Good Friday: Christ bore our sin, and Christ bore the wrath of God for us. Here is another: we died with Christ (Rom 6, Col 3:3, Gal 2:20). Death? Good news? Sure! Romans 6 explains: "for he who has died has been freed from sin." Through His death, we are FREE! For we too died! And now Christ is our life (Col 3:4, Gal 2:20). Christ lives within us. It is His life that enlivens us. No wonder Ephesians 4 says the old man "grows corrupt according to the decietful lusts" Literally, the old man decays - he is dead! Christ lives!

And what is the right response to this truth (to refer back to my first point :-))? "Take up your cross and follow Me" (Matt 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23). Remember what a cross is? It is the most cruel, severe, torturous form of death invented by man. Oh, and it's death. Jesus is not calling us to easy; He's calling us to DIE. Let us not be as Peter, who said he would follow even unto death, and then refused to be numbered among Christ's followers at the earliest sign of trouble. Rather let us be like Mary and Joseph of Arimathea, sacrificing, pouring out all we have to give, no matter the cost, trusting the result to God.

(Resurrection celebration! - and some more thoughts on Hell)