Have you ever tried to tell the story of Easter to a child? It’s daunting.
In the first place, it’s at least R-rated. There is political manipulation, payoffs, treachery, fear, horrific torture, as well as the death of the hero. No wonder we want to skip from Palm Sunday to Easter Bunny and call that the holiday.
But at some point, we have to grow up and face the darkness. Not only what happened during the original Holy Week, but the darkness and death that has always been part of the reality of life.
Christians tend to use a lot of shorthand around what happens on the cross: “Jesus died for our sins.” Explaining the “how” and “why” of that statement gets confusing, however. For starters, we need the context of Passover – Jesus as the innocent and unblemished Lamb of God whose blood enables? signals? death to “pass over” the children of Israel. But that doesn’t clarify why God needs the Lord’s own blood to save us. It almost sounds like a legal technicality. Theologians can banter about various theories of how Jesus’ death brings about our salvation, but it is mostly one of the mysteries of our faith.
Perhaps it’s better if we look at what gets Jesus killed.
On Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey, he fulfilled the ancient prophecy of the arrival of the Messiah. The people who exclaimed “Hosanna” in the streets believed He was the One to redeem Israel. The problem lay in their understanding of what this long-awaited Christ would do.
Jesus did not wield a divine wand to “miraculously” eliminate the Roman overlords, nor did He incite the populace to rebel against their oppressors. Instead, when pressed, He advised paying Roman taxes because one ought to render to Caesar what belonged to Caesar (Matthew 22:15-21). Although He upset the money tables at the Temple (Matthew 21:12-13), and criticized the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, He never turned His back on the Holy Scriptures (Matthew 23:2-3). Instead, He offered a deeper understanding of the spirit of the Torah. If only we would allow God to transform our hearts, life would change for the better from the bottom up, without dismantling the power structure from the top down.
I particularly love how every time His critics tried to trap Him, Jesus found a way to make an important point that no one expected. What about the woman “caught in the act of adultery” (John 7:53-8:11)? Jesus managed to show compassion without undermining the Law, and still give His opponents something to contemplate without openly challenging then. And that is merely one example.
History demonstrates that true innovators threaten the reigning powers. It is no surprise that both the Jewish religious elite as well as the Roman government sought to silence Jesus. But why did Jesus have to die? Surely, He could have escaped. The agony of the Lord’s time in the Garden of Gethsemane reminds us that even He hoped for that possibility. Yet it was not God’s will.
God’s ways are not our ways. They always bring better results.
The circumstances that led to Jesus’ sentencing and crucifixion occur when humans struggle to keep life under our own control. The Jewish High Council and Pontius Pilate believed so strongly in the status quo they had worked hard to establish that it was easy for them to justify the sacrifice of a single player in the drama in the name of their perceived greater good. It is the way of the world. Good does not always win out. Justice fails to be served. Sometimes the hero dies. Jesus’ story shows God acknowledging these realities. The Lord did not exempt Himself from them.
And it’s right to be sad, and even angry about that.
In the Passover story, the Lord had Moses lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and pitch camp on the edge of the sea, making them sitting ducks when the Pharaoh’s chariots came to pursue them. They cried out in misery – how could God set them up for this kind of fall? Surely, Christ’s disciples felt the same after Good Friday.
But God has answers we can never guess. Easter reminds us that not no scheme of humans, or Satan — not even death itself, can thwart what the Lord will do.
Behold, Christ is Risen.
He is Risen indeed.
Photo taken during my recent trip to Israel.
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