When Love Came to Town
When it comes to celebrating Easter, what’s not to like about hidden eggs with treasure inside, family gatherings, and chocolate deliciousness? In America, the Easter Bunny is everywhere and it would be difficult to miss the holiday. I love seeing little girls in Easter dresses and all that goes with it. But, I don’t want us to miss the biggest reason to celebrate. Easter is a love story of redemption that takes place amidst great tragedy and sadness. Easter isn’t just history; Easter provides the key to our life and freedom today.
I believe the stories in the books of the Bible are written to show us the heart of love God has for people. The apostle John said God is Love. So, throughout this story, whenever you see the word Love, I’d like you to think about God.
Because Easter took place during the Jewish Passover, I’d also like you to consider the children and kids in your life. A Passover tradition called Haggadah includes a “telling” of how their people were delivered from slavery. The Jewish faith recognizes the importance of making sure children know what Love has done for them and what they believe. We never told our kids what to believe or tried to coerce them into sharing our beliefs with scare tactics. For us, sharing our faith and telling our children the stories of Jesus seems like the loving choice.
The first Easter took place during Passover week when Jewish families celebrate their deliverance from slavery and the blessings of freedom. It is a time of joy with a symbolic feast and storytelling. Easter has a back story and context that makes it even more interesting for parents. During Passover, a tribe of parents saved their children with a wise decision. It turns out, how we parent matters.
Here’s the story.
The Jews were suffering from over 400 years of Egyptian slavery and oppression. Love heard their cries for deliverance and answered. Love decided to free the people from Pharoah’s control so they could enter the Promised Land. But there was an enemy of freedom. His name was Pharaoh.
Not everyone wants you to live and be free.
Slavery was helpful to the Egyptian economy. Love chose Moses to lead the people to freedom and told Pharaoh to let His people go. Love tried to get Pharoah to change his mind in nine other ways with lesser plagues. Pharaoh refused over and over again, so the last and most terrible plague that Love caused to change Pharoah’s mind was to afflict their firstborn children. All the firstborn children in Egypt would die on the night of the Passover.
Yet, Love didn’t want anyone to suffer needlessly. Love offered a way to be spared from death and a way to distinguish themselves for safety. The people were instructed to slaughter a spotless lamb, eat its meat, and put the blood on their door frames. It didn’t matter if they were rich or poor, mean or nice. If they put the blood of the lamb over their doors, the destroyer would pass them by.
At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon and the first born of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up dring the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. -exodus
Nobody wished there were a different way more than the lambs!
“I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” (Exodus 12:12-13)
How ironic that the blood would be the thing that prevented their children’s death. The blood saved the people.
Fast forward. Jesus and the disciples were traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, which had been celebrated for over 1500 years, except that Jesus was part of a much bigger plan that his friends didn’t understand at all. Jesus and His friends would eat a lamb dinner observing all the Passover traditions. When Jesus offered the wine, He taught them that this wine would from then on symbolize His blood and a New Covenant.
Jesus knew that in Jerusalem that week, He would be killed. He knew that the “last supper” was His last supper before He died, but they didn’t. They were looking forward to a celebration, not a crucifixion. Though He had led a faultless life, He would become a sacrifice for all of humanity, demonstrating God’s great love for the world. Jesus said He was the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world and freed us from death once and for all. Through Christ, we can have eternal life and freedom from the fear of death and the slavery of sin.
We are saved by the blood.
To say it may have been difficult for Jesus to fully relax and enjoy the Passover that year seems like an understatement. His sacrifice for us before we knew or cared or believed is still the most humbling thought.
Everyone wonders …if there is a God is He good? And, is He safe? Can we trust Him? How could Love allow people to go to hell? How could Love kill innocent children in a plague? If you think about it, with all the blood shed, there is nothing “safe” about the Easter story. We all get to decide for ourselves whether we believe the written word, and whether God is Love.
In Chronicles of Narnia, one of the kids asked Mr. Beaver if Aslan was safe. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
In Jewish Old Testament custom, the lambs were sacrificed as atonement for sin. But Love was making a better way. As Jesus prepared for this dreadful execution, the sins of the world came onto Him. He was sweating drops of blood and was in deep distress. He said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” He then asked Love if there was another way to spare Him from the cross. But, there was no other way. Our freedom wasn’t free.
Jesus asked His Father for another way to save us.
Love is a parent, yet He gave His own son to give us life and freedom. He isn’t “safe,” but He is so, so, so good. He thought you were worth it and He wanted you to be part of His family. We celebrate Easter because Jesus rose again and proved He can conquer death. He holds the power of life and He wants to give it to you.
Easter is a love story.
“For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God,” says the writer of Hebrews. Jesus performed this sacrificial act of love with great joy because of the outcome it would produce. We will all die, but through Christ we have eternal life and reconciliation with God.
During the Passover, Jewish parents sought refuge in the blood of the lamb. The Old Testament stories were a preview that point us to our need for Jesus long before He arrived. Some put their faith in Love; others put their faith in Pharaoh, a human leader. We all put our faith in something or someone. They refused the deliverance Love provided and it cost them the lives of their children. Sadly, the weeping of the families was heard all throughout the nation. Find out for yourself so you can tell your children who Jesus is and what He did. I am a follower of Jesus because of His great love, not because of guilt or fear.
I hear a lot of people say they don’t believe that there is only one way to heaven. Part of me really wants that to be true. I’d like to tell you that everyone goes to heaven. The only problem is that Love says that is not true in the Scriptures. If anyone would have liked that to be true, it would be the One who died. But, why would Love have sent His Son to an unnecessary death to provide eternal life? That doesn’t make sense.
Jesus said, "Whoever lives by believing in me will never die." Love has made provisions for our souls to live forever with Him if we choose. God is love.
You can trust Him with your family.
Tell your kids about the God who loves them and wants to care for them. Help them know the true Easter story. The one where over 500 people saw Jesus alive after his death and we choose Love and get to live forever with Him.