The day of resurrection

God is in the business of transforming.  He doesn't keep things as they are; he changes them and makes them new.  He doesn't do this unexpectedly, at least not usually.  He lets you know beforehand so that you can remember.

We all know the story:  The women came to the tomb, and he wasn't there.  There was, instead, a message--don't you remember?  He told you that he'd rise on the third day?  The implication is, as always, that you should know this.  Think! Remember!

The first people that came to find out what had happened were the women who had come to anoint the body for burial.  An interesting fact is that two people were not at the tomb:  Jesus and Mary, his mother.  Are the two linked?  Scripture doesn't say.  To me, it makes perfect sense that the person who was first shown Jesus' risen body be the same person who first saw Jesus' earthly body.  When I  think of the grief that Mary must have felt while watching her son die on the cross, it seems only right that her son would visit her first to reassure her that he had risen as he had promised.

Jesus is our resurrected Lord.  And he is in the business of redeeming us and given us a resurrected life, first symbolically here then literally in the last days.

I believe with all my heart that I have been redeemed. I also believe with all my heart that I am not the same person that I was 10 years ago, 20 years ago, or when I was five.  I honestly believe that God has resurrected the person that was meant to be all those years ago.  He has renewed the vision of my youth--given me back dreams that I gave up on years ago.  I see myself living a life that would have seemed unbelievable even 10 years ago.

And I am a small example.  Think of the girls taken into human trafficking and then rescued.  Are they going to live with the stain of that life forever?  Some do, yes.  Some never seem to be able to get over the life that they once lived.  But others--the ones who believe in and worship Christ as their Savior, the ones who are willing to give over all the hurt, the betrayal, the bitterness to him--they are brought into new life.  They are allowed grace to use the life that came before as a stepping stone to a new life of freedom and peace in the Lord.  No, it's not easy.  Nobody ever promised that it would be easy.  But it is possible, because Christ arose.

Do you feel dead inside?  At worship today, did you sing the song and recite the scripture, but only with your mind, not with your heart and soul?  Ask God to bring you into new life.  And then wait.  And remember what you were told.  He arose, and so will you.

Holy Saturday

It is finished!
Into your hands, Father, I commend my spirit.

Up above, the words were quiet,
Spoken by a dying man into the void of a world that did not understand.

But

Down below, the words brought,
for the first time,
hope.

It was finished?
No, it was about to begin.

The Lord of All was dead.
He had been laid in the grave,
The tomb,

And now,
The work was about to begin.

Saving men from sin was one thing,
Freeing them from the power of death is quite another.

So down he went,
To the abode of the righteous--
Paradise.

The souls in hell looked on the Savior--
Amazed.
This was the man that they had heard about--
Now down in the place of the dead with the rest of them.

I am the way, the truth, and the LIFE.

No man comes to the Father but by me!

The gates of hell opened.

Who would accept the call?

Those in Paradise, of course, rushed forth.

They had known him from the beginning,

And they freely took the offered hand.

Bowing before him, they accepted his gift--

Their freedom--

He had given them a Way

And were welcomed by Truth

As they went into the Light.

And those across the chasm?

Did any of them accept the offer of freedom

For the price of allegiance?

We are not told

But we can hope….

Up above,

The world waited without hope.

Down below,

The souls flooded out,

and up

Into the gates of Heaven,

And for the first time,

The created Son of God,

Viewed the Father once again.

There was one day--

An eternity--

To renew relationships,

Be congratulated on a job well done,

Be gratefully received by those who had not followed the fool,

And to look down

Into Hell,

And see the stunned, angry face of death.

Never again would he hold dominion.

The King of Life was now King of Death as well,

For months afterward (or was it centuries?),

Death would sit, stunned, saying,

"He just left! How did he Do that?

Even I can't do that!"

And so the righteous dead were raised first.

For the rest of the world,

Those here below,

They waited

One

Day

More.

Good Friday

He came with the disciples to the garden,

and yet he really came alone.

The time was almost here,

so close that it could be felt.

Death had been introduced in the upper room,

and it followed him to the garden.

If it is your will, Abba,

remove the yoke from me.

He was all man, now.

God made man was begging--

Not for his life--

but for some way

any way

to remove the cup--

the cross--

his Father's well-earned wrath

from being poured out.

He knew from the beginning that it was not to be,

but he was all man

and so he prayed.

He asked his friends,

those who had boasted about who would sit on which side,

to sit with him and pray.

They truly wanted to,

but sorrow overtook them

and they slept instead.

What would have happened had the angels not intervened,

bringing some manna of which we know not?

Death would have won.

If there is no cross, there is no salvation.

And so he prayed, he cried out, he sweated drops like blood,

but then he gave in.

"Not my will, but thine be done."

And he walked forward and faced it all.

Judas, the priests, the judges, the scourging, 

the ignominy of a death on a cross.

Death followed him,

whispering into his ear,

"What are you doing?

Do you really believe that this will help?

These people are doomed.

They're not your people,

They're my people.

Raised on high for all to see,

He continued his journey.

"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

What? You want God to forgive them?  They just crucified God's son! Are you out of your mind?"

"Today you will be with me in paradise"

Paradise?  With you?  How sweet.  Have you forgotten that you will both be dead? You will both be mine! And believe me, I have big plans for you.

"This is your son.  This is your mother."

If you get down from there, think of all the suffering that you will spare her.  Is this really necessary?

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Finally, you understand.  You are not God.  You are not even a man.  You are nothing.  If you truly are God, as you said, save yourself!

Death tried to chuckle, 

but he could hear the rumble of every Jewish heart there.

What had been started continued,

unbidden,

as it came through years and years of worship.

For the first time, they heard the breaths inside the psalm.

For the first time, they realized that the pauses--

natural rests--

were the sounds of a man breathing

struggling

on a cross.

For the first time, Death felt doubt

Could he have misstepped?

No, this was his moment of victory, 

and he was determined to savor it.

"I am thirsty."

You will be more than that in a few short hours.

Oh, what I have planned for you…

But the bravado was wearing thin.

"It is finished."

Finished?  

What is? 

Your wonderful plan of salvation? 

But the chill that was creeping over him was not to be ignored.

"Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit."

No longer did Death try to make himself heard.

It was over.

God's Son was dead.

His heart had broken.

For what?

These mice?

Eager to begin the next chapter,

Death went back to Hell,

to wait.

He didn't have to wait long.

Maundy Thursday--when death entered the room

It was the penultimate night.
God in flesh knew his time was running short.
So once more, he gathered his own around him--
His own, and one who was no longer his own--
And as they came,
Death entered them room.

For years, he had taught them,
Through his whole life he had loved them,
And now, one night more to show them
How they could still love, still teach,
still be an example
Even when death enters the room.

He bade them enter,
Removed his robe and washed their feet,
But some still did not understand
How could the king of all be their servant?
Their minds were clouded
Since death had entered the room.

Lesson after lesson had they heard--
Heard but not understood--
And now he was clearly stating his desire for them--
Love one another as I have loved you--
But one refused to hear,
And through him, Death had entered the room.

The bread, commissioned
The wine, commissioned
This is my body, this is my blood.
As often as you do this, do it in memory of me.
And in so saying, he sought them to notice
That death had entered the room.

The one who had come brimming with  hate--
So much talk, so little action!--
Decided at this point that he had been right.
His action would create a spark--
force this man to act.
How did he not know that Death had entered the room?

The others still were not fully aware.
They only knew that their leader was once again proclaiming--what?
They weren't sure.
Year after year of masked teaching.
Maybe they were not to be blamed for not realizing
That Death had entered the room.

And now, on to Gesthemene,
On to Golgotha
On to the tomb.
What a mistake he made that night,
Full of pride, feeling he had won--
Yes, Death had entered the room.

coming back to life

I woke up this morning to a realization. The weight that is always on my chest was gone!  I have lived with this pain for more years than I can remember.  It is a normal accompaniment to a life lived in pain and suffering, and I live with it--most days not even consciously remembering that it's there.  But this morning, for a blessed change, it was gone!  Why?  Easy.  I went to a retreat and came away changed.

I am thankful that I'm open to change.  I know many people who aren't.  They are stuck in bitterness.  They avoid change.  They are certain that the world is out to get them.  Anything that challenges views that they learned at their mother's knee is viewed as suspect.  Their Jesus, their world view, their moral compass are all set in stone.  I used to be like them.

That all changed after my husband died.  My world collapsed, and I collapsed with it.  After a time, I reached out for help.  That's the first step.  The person who came alongside invited me to a Bible study. That was the second step.  The Bible study taught me that what I had always believed was wrong.  That was the gigantic leap.

When you take a gigantic leap, you have two choices.  You fly or you fall.  You can fly if the leap leads to truth. You fall when the leap leads you to error.  It's up to you to determine that what you've been taught is true and accurate.  No proof texts--check out what you've been told by reading in context and making sure it holds up in the Light.  It did.

Having taken one leap, I took another.  And another.  I began to feel less fettered.  My God began to change.  Better said, my personal understanding of him began to change.  He went from taskmaster to Father.  I was led into freedom.

Today, I take nothing for granted.  I learn new things every day.  Some do not stand in the light of Truth, but most do.  Each step I take brings me another step closer to freedom.  And the weight lifts.

If you want to learn more, email me.  meggiev7777@gmail.com.  Or include your email in the comments below.

Mary, did you know

O holy mother
Most blessed
We know all about the Christmas story.

We know about the road to Bethlehem,
The shepherds, angels, wise men
We know about the night in the manger and the trip afterwards to Egypt.

But Mary,
we don't know anything about the road leading up to Easter.

Did you grieve Joseph when he died?
Did your other children (or perhaps nieces and nephews)
step in and give you shelter and peace?

And how closely did you follow Jesus?

You always seemed to be there--
Did you follow close enough to be at the Last Supper?
Did you see the famous kiss?

And did it break your heart?

Mary, I remember you during Holy Week.
I hope you were among the crowd
with a palm frond in your hand.

I know that you were at the cross-
and I hope it gave you a certain pleasure to know
that even then He thought of you.

You are with him now, rejoicing in Heaven with him.
God bless you, Holy Lady.

I don't understand

When I look around me at the chaos
--lives unraveling everywhere and not one person noticing--
I don't understand.

I don't understand why children are still dying
when we have so much understanding of disease.

I don't understand why there is still starvation
when farmers agree to let fields lie dormant.

I don't understand.

Why can't we work together
to bring healing to those that need it?

Why can't we encourage people to work
instead of paying them to stay home?

Why can't we let people be
and mind our own business?

Honestly
I just don't understand.