Aight boys it’s Easter time and you know what that means? Church history from Lynx! Yayy! Christmas is the big holiday today- but back in medieval times, Easter was /the/ holiday- it was the biggest event of the year. In fact, Christmas is only the biggest holiday because of Sears and Coca-Cola. Now, Easter may not be as popular, and it’s had its fair amount of commercialization, but I think that the fact Easter is no longer a major holiday has somewhat preserved it in a purer form. And in case you don’t know what the purer form is, I’ll tell ya- don’t worry I’m not gonna get preachy, I’m just telling ya a story Christmas is important. Christmas is when /God/ became a /human/. But that would have meant nothing without the crucifixion and resurrection. The crucifixion is when the Jews in Rome had Jesus crucified on a cross for many things- things such as blasphemy, lying, and false teaching- none of which he was guilty of. After several unfair trials and arrests—some breaking the law, some involving bribery—the more powerful religious group of the Jews, the Pharisees, were able to crucify Jesus. The same Jesus who never said a /word/ in his own defense, all throughout those trials and arrests. Why? Because he was born to die. But there’s a lot more than that. If he had just died? We wouldn’t be talking about him right now. We all die- nothing special. But this man, after three days, came back to life. Fully. He /fully/ died, and came /fully/ back to life. No medical miracles, no ghosts or anything. He 100% died. And because he not only died as a human, but rose again, he was able to free all of his children- those who believe- from their sin. “that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” -Romans 10:9 Even if you aren’t a believer you’ve probably heard parts of this story before so I’m not just here to retell it- I’m here to talk about why Why? We don’t really know. We’re human, there is some knowledge that we do not have the capability of understanding. Here’s my best explanation- when you wrong someone, you have to make it up to them. You have to give them something in return- not a gift necessarily or a material thing, but you have to give them /something/- So when we sin against God..what do we give him? Well, we can’t give him anything. Why? Because God gave us everything we have- everything we could give him, is already his. An apology? Nope. Who gave you the ability to talk and think? God did. That apology is already his. It was looking pretty bad for us. Ever since the fall, we were born already sinful, and with /nothing/ we could do to fix it. And that, friend, is why Jesus had to die. Sin isn’t a substance, it’s separation from God. God is life. And so when you Sin, the penalty is Death. What Jesus did, is take that penalty, on himself. We’re pretty weak- we can’t die and come back to life. But he could- and he did- so all of our sins, are atoned for. That is why. Not because we deserve it- but because we couldn’t do it ourselves. And God, rather than saying ‘eh I give up, I’ll try again with some new humans’, decided to take our punishment on himself. Why? For you. He wanted you- to see you at the gates of Heaven when your time comes. You’re the why. You don’t have to deserve it, and you don’t have to understand it. Just know that God died to give you a chance- a chance at life. Pretty good Easter gift if you ask me- can’t put that in a basket. Anyways, I’m done with that ha! But I do want to share an interesting lil trivia fact! I don’t know if it’s true or not but tradition says that the soldier that pierced Jesus’s side (the Roman dude in the drawing) actually became a saint later on! He has a hagiography and everything- Aight now I’m /really/ done, have a lovely day! God bless you and remember to never miss an opportunity to appreciate how blessed you are <3
Love you guys <3