"On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross..." 2000 years ago today

Is it illegal to steal on Good Friday? Of course it is, so I must confess, I stole this from Bible Gateway.

Reflections on Good Friday

Today is Good Friday, the bleakest moment in the Gospel story. Reading the story of Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion today, we have the benefit of knowing that it’s all leading up to the triumph of Easter. But to the Jesus-followers present at the scene, it must have seemed that the world as they knew it was falling apart.

One of the challenges of reading the crucifixion story two thousands years after the event took place is that it’s difficult for us to empathize with its participants. From our perspective, the Easter crowds seem insanely fickle; Jesus’ disciples seem utterly clueless; the members of the Sandhedrin contemptibly evil; Pilate laughably corrupt.

Those things are true. Nobody except Jesus behaves well in the Good Friday story. But it’s these very people—fickle, clueless, evil, corrupt—that Jesus died for.

The truth is that we have much in common with the fools and villains of Easter. The wonder is that Jesus loved them, and us, enough to submit to foolishness, injustice, and death. The miracle is that three days later, he rose from the dead to offer us salvation. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

If you haven’t read the complete story of the crucifixion recently, today’s a perfect day to revisit it. Here are the four Gospel accounts of the story:

• Matthew 26:14-27:66
• Mark 14:12-15:47
• Luke 22-23
• John 18-19

Truth be told, there's a little bit, or even more than a little, in all of us in each of the characters in the Easter story. Hypocritical Jewish Priests and Sanhedrin members who were holier-than-thou but plotted murder of an innocent man who threatened their hold on power, fickle crowds who said "Hosanna to the King!" one day and "Crucify him!" a week later, even fickle disciples who swore they would all die for Jesus and then fled like scared rabbits when he was arrested. My prayer is this Easter we will all become more like the one real hero of Easter, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:5-9 says let the mind of Christ be in you. "Let" means it's up to us whether we will allow the mind of Christ to be formed in us. Jesus has already done His part.

⁵ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ⁹

Happy Easter!

An Easter message to all those who want to create Utopia on earth

Easter's coming up and I feel a gun rant coming on. For all those who say we should ban all guns, and also ban all knives, baseball bats, anything that can be used as a club and anything else in the universe that could possibly be used as a weapon, up to and including ballpoint pens, I say OK, that's fine with me.

Let's go back to writing with quill pens. With dull points so you can't stab anybody with 'em.

I really look forward to the day when there will be eternal peace throughout the universe and no need whatsoever for any weapons of any type.

The ancient Old Testament prophet Micah gives us a vision of that day he predicted is coming.

Micah 4:3 (New King James Version)

³ He shall judge between many peoples,
And rebuke strong nations afar off;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.

Sounds like heaven, don't it? Well, that's just what it is, heaven on earth. And it will happen.

But it will not happen until the "He" referred to by Micah is sitting on His throne here on earth.

That He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who died for all mankind on Easter more than 2000 years ago, but was resurrected from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God the Father, waiting for His Father to turn to Him and say, "Time for your 2nd coming."

Then and only then we will no longer have any need for weapons. Until then, if we try to bring about that utopia by banning guns, wherever those banned guns are stored away, some thugs will take a sledge hammer and bust in and help themselves, just as a bunch of punks did last week at the gun store where I work.

They were either too lazy to get a job and buy their guns or already with criminal records so they couldn't buy one, so they did what punks have been doing since Hector was a pup. They stole them. And you can pass all the blinkin' laws you want, the crooks don't care one whit.

That's why they're crooks, because they break the law. So take all your anti-gun laws and all your high and airy talk about creating utopia here on earth and stuff it where the sun don't shine.

Because we're not gonna have a utopia until King Jesus establishes his Kingdom here and rules and reigns for all eternity. Until then, I'm gonna keep my guns loaded and close to hand.

The tomb is empty and Jesus is alive and well

Christianity is the world's only religion founded on an empty tomb. Our Savior and Lord is not a dead Jesus, He's the Living Lord of the Universe, dead, buried and resurrected to eternal life.

The long dark hours before Resurrection Morning

This time about 2,000 years ago, the battered, bloody body of a man called Jesus of Nazareth was resting in a borrowed tomb. His terribly beaten and crucified dead body was lain there just before dark as the Jewish Sabbath and the highest holy day celebration of Passover began.

It seemed in those dark hours as He lay in the tomb that Satan and the forces of evil had won. But God had a plan all along. This man from Nazareth is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." His terrible suffering and death was in God's plan all along to redeem a sinful world.

This is the One who when first seen by John the Baptist, he cried out "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

And just as in the Jewish Passover tradition, a lamb was slain, His blood was shed and the sins of the people were covered by His blood as the Death Angel passed over. Today we call it Easter.

Listen to Rich Mullin's great song, Our God Is An Awesome God, and say thanks to the Awesome God who laid His own life down and rose again on the third day to redeem my sins and yours.