March 2008
Luke’s Gospel tells us that, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he (Jesus), set his face to go to Jerusalem.” To “set one’s face” was to become so single minded that nothing else mattered. Jesus knew his destiny awaited him in the Holy City; he knew the path that he had to take. He was totally aware of the darkness that was to come. He knew that joy and celebration would meet him at the gates of the city. But he also knew that the city would turn against him and ultimately cost him his life. When he tried to explain to his disciples what was about to happen, they didn’t understand; how could they. They tried to talk Jesus out of making the journey and staying where it was safe. But Jesus wouldn’t listen – he couldn’t. His whole life had led him to this place in time; this final journey and everything depended on his obedience to the will of his Heavenly Father.
So often when we think of Easter, what comes to mind is the celebration. We think of spring and newness of life. We think of Easter lilies and Easter dresses and bonnets and the children doing their sunrise service and the victory we have in Jesus Christ because he rose from the grave in victory over sin and death. And that’s good because in Christ, we do have victory and redemption. We were lost but now we’re found and that calls for celebration. We celebrate the empty cross and we call ourselves Easter people in its honor. But celebration of a victory without remembering the cost lessens its value – its importance – to our lives. We need to remember that the cross wasn’t always empty.
We need to remember that there was a very dark valley between the celebration of Palm Sunday and the Celebration of Easter. We need to remember the tears and the anguish in the garden of Gethsemane. We need to remember the suffering of an innocent man who was willing to walk the path of a criminal to his death on that cross. We need to remember that it was because of our sin – not his – that that path was placed before him.
But we also need to remember that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not parish, but have eternal life.” God didn’t send his son into the world to condemn the world, we were condemned already; God sent his son into the world to offer us the way to be restored into the fullness of relationship with him and the fullness of relationship with one another. We need to remember how far God was willing to go – the price he was willing to pay – in order to do that. To take the gift God offers us in Jesus Christ too lightly is grievous mistake.
So let us set our face upon Jesus and celebrate Easter in all its fullness; giving glory and honor to God for the priceless gift we have been given in Jesus Christ. Let us call ourselves Easter people, but I pray that it not be in name only, I pray that it become – for all of us – a daily act of thankfulness for what God has so willingly done for us in Jesus Christ. So much so that we can’t help but have Christ truly become the center of everything we do and our lives become a beacon to those who need to know the truth about God’s redeeming grace. AMEN
Grace and Peace, The Rev. Rob Hughes
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