O-Dark-Thirty

The Apostles were dismayed and brokenhearted, for their Master and friend died on a Roman cross. They knew the Sanhedrin orchestrated the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. The terrified Jewish leaders eliminated the single biggest threat to their continued leadership of Israel, and they used the Roman occupiers as their weapon. The High Priest thought he killed Jesus. You cannot kill God. The Roman cross did not kill Jesus. Jesus gave his life up. When he declared "It is finished", Jesus meant that the debt for sin was paid. God gave us the greatest gift we never deserved. God gave us forgiveness. Someone needed to tell the Apostles that God's ultimate forgiveness was in the cleansing blood flowing down the cross on Good Friday. So on Easter Sunday, Jesus, the Christ, rose from the dead. The grave could not hold him. Death could not claim him. Jesus is Everlasting Life, the Savior, our Lord, God made man, the Way, the Truth, the Son of God, the King of k...

Jesus died. The lives of the Apostles changed irrevocably. Never again would they walk with Jesus, expecting an exalted place in the new kingdom after the restoration of Israel. I'm sure they shed copious tears, for their Master,  their friend and their hopes. The followers of Jesus hid from authorities, afraid their fates were inextricably tied to the fate of their Teacher. They were right.

Easter. Easter is the most joyous of events in Christendom. Easter should be the greatest event for all mankind, but it doesn't work that way. We only have to look at the original Bible account to see why the world thinks of bunnies and not resurrection. On Palm Sunday, according to John 12, the world celebrated the coming of the Messiah to Jerusalem. The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the king of Israel!" Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. Now...