This is my favorite holiday of the year. It's not as flashy as Christmas or as romantic as Valentine's Day, but Easter is the holiday with the most meaning for me. It's not about the eggs, the chocolate, the baskets or the new dresses (although I enjoy all those things). This holiday is all about the good news of Jesus.
When God created the world it was good - it was very good, but it didn't stay that way. Sin entered the world and death through sin. Ever since humanity has been plagued by illness, pain, violence, and death. We struggle to do what is right, but we want to do what is wrong and this battle affects every single person who has ever walked this earth - except one.
God gave humans a picture of what would eventually save us from our sins and reunite us with Him. He instated a sacrificial system, showing that the payment for sin was too high for anyone to pay. For centuries innocent lambs were killed, a foreshadow of what was to come.
Then one day, Jesus was born. He fulfilled prophecy in his birth and life. He was fully God and fully man. He alone was perfect though He was tempted in every way like we are. He came to fulfill the law, to save mankind, but there was only one way He could do that.
When the time was right, Jesus entered Jerusalem to the excitement of all who thought He was going to save them - from Rome. They wanted a political hero, not a spiritual Savior. In a matter of days they would turn on Him. He celebrated His final Passover on earth with his disciples (a celebration that pictured what was soon to occur), and one of His own sold Him out for thirty pieces of silver.
Jesus prayed that God would remove the cup from Him. He experienced emotional, mental and physical agony as He struggled with what was to come, but when it came time to be arrested, He went willingly. His trial was unfair and yet He didn't say word. He was sentenced to death, and not just any death, death by crucifixion - a death so tortuous, so vile, so agonizing that there wasn't a word strong enough to describe the pain it inflicted. So they invented a new word - EXCRUCIATING. It was such a horrible way to die that it was reserved for only the worst of the worst, and Roman citizens were exempt from ever facing it.
Jesus was flogged, beaten in a way that would have shredded His back. Many people didn't even survive the beating that Jesus took because the loss of blood was so great. Then He was forced to carry His own cross to Calvary, only He was so weak from the beating that He couldn't do it. Instead, a man was pulled from the crowd to carry it for Him. He was hung on the cross with nails and each statement He uttered from the cross would have been done in agony since He was slowly, painfully suffocating to death. While He was on the cross, every sin that had ever been committed or ever would be was placed on Him and for the first time, Jesus was separated from God. That was the worst part of the entire thing for Jesus. He bore the weight of our sin even though He had never sinned. When it was finished, He laid down His life and died.
If the story ended there though, there would be no good news. No matter if Jesus was a good man, a good teacher, a prophet - none of it would matter if Sunday had never come. If Jesus was still in a grave, we would be lost forever. But He is no longer there! He is risen! And with His resurrection death lost all of it's power, sin was conquered once and for all, and humans and God could finally have their relationship restored.
The Good News is this:
Christ died, was buried and rose again - and He's coming again!
There's nothing better than that.
Hallelujah! He is risen indeed!
