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More than a sacrifice

As we enter the holiest time of the year for Christians, I wonder if we might pause and reflect back on the journey we’ve taken over the last forty (or so) days.
We started back on Ash Wednesday with a not-so-gentle reminder from Jesus to enter into this time without bragging rights or fanfare. When we pray, fast, give alms, we should do so in private for “your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” (Matthew 6:6)
We then joined Jesus in the desert for forty days of fasting, prayer, and temptation. We were with Peter, John and James with Jesus on the mountaintop as he was transfigured. In the following weeks, maybe you searched for fruit in a dying fig tree, ate and drank at the party for the prodigal son or were in the crowd with Jesus as he forgave the woman in the courtyard about to be stoned Or, you may have heard the story of the women at the well who Jesus knew so much about, saw the man who was blind regain his sight, or were with Mary and Martha as their both emerged from the tomb.

In her book, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again, Christian writer Rachel Held Evans reminds us Jesus’ purpose in on earth was so much more than his sacrifice:

Jesus didn’t just “come to die.” Jesus came to live—to teach, to heal, to tell stories, to turn over tables, to touch people who weren’t supposed to be touched and eat with people who weren’t supposed to be eaten with. To break bread, to pour wine, to wash feet, to face temptation, to tick off the authorities, to fulfill Scripture, to announce the start of a brand-new kingdom, to show us what that kingdom is like, to show us what God is like, to love his enemies to the point of death at their hand, and to beat death by rising from the grave. Rachel Held Evans, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Books, 2018), 148,Kindle.

Before we enter into the sacrifice, Jesus showed us how to live. And Jesus’ example is as relevant today as it was over 2000 years ago.  As we enter into this holiest of weeks, I ask you to take a moment and reflect back on all the stories of life we heard and what it means for you right now, today and in the days after Easter morn.