Easter
Opening Prayer:
“Come all the faithful, let us worship God,
for through the Cross, joy has come to all the world.
Ever blessing the Lord, we sing His Resurrection,
for having endured the Cross for us,
He has destroyed death by death.”
- Oxford Prayer Book.
Good Friday: Innocent
Scripture:
11 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
12 When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” 14 But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.
15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. 16 At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus[b] Barabbas. 17 So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” 18 For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.
19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
21 “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.
“Barabbas,” they answered.
22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
25 All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”
26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
Matthew 27:11-26
Summary:
Anyone with brothers and sisters or children has heard the refrain “It’s not fair.” At the heart of the events of Easter is something deeply unfair: the completely innocent Jesus being sentenced to death while the guilty Barabbas gets set free. Guilt is celebrated while innocence is punished.
The people had great expectations of the messiah and what the messiah would do. The passover festival was a time when the Jews remembered when God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt, when he did great deeds in order to redeem his people. Now, under threat again from the occupying Romans, the people turn again to the messiah – this peasant Galilean who claims to be God’s chosen one – for rescue.
But instead Jesus tells them to love their enemies, turn the other cheek, do good to those who persecute you. Jesus didn’t seem to meet the people’s expectations. He wasn’t doing the things they thought a messiah should do. They had their own expectations of what the messiah would do – of what he should do – he would rescue them from oppression, destroy the Romans and restore the Jews to their rightful place as rulers of the world. He would be active, he would fight, he would lead. They wanted a hero messiah.
Jesus was the son of the Father. The name Barabbas (‘bar’ son of, ‘abba’ father) actually means ‘son of the father’. They are both ‘sons of the father’, but only Barabbas looks like the active, heroic messiah the people want; Jesus is not acting the way they want the messiah to.
We must ask ourselves if we still do the same today. Do we look for a messiah of our own making, a messiah made in our own image? When Jesus doesn’t do the things we want him to do, do we turn away from him and try and do things ourselves, in our own strength, because we know best?
Easter is a revolutionary moment. A moment when Jesus let his own creation kill him in order to redeem it and restore it to himself. He did not fight back. He did not destroy us. What do we make of a messiah who stays silent, who does not talk back or shout the crowd down, who doesn’t raise an arm in defiance and who does not open his mouth in protest, but lets himself be led away to be executed?
Instead, with his final words, he forgives us and asks us to follow him in obedience to God, despite the cost, to love others just as he loved others. What is God asking us to die to so that we might follow him into new resurrection life?
Questions to Consider:
How is Barabbas representative of us? Do you see yourself in him? How?
Do you think today we would make the same decision for Barabbas as the crowd did? Why or why not?
What does it mean to say that Jesus died for Barabbas?
Practice to Consider:
Jesus said “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” - John 12:24
We who are forgiven are now called to follow Jesus. Following him in His life - loving as he loved, and follow him in his death. Following his example of giving His life for the sake of those that meant to harm Him. Follow Jesus’ Obedience to God despite the cost.
What could God be asking us to die to in order that we might grow in faith & know life and life to the full?
Perhaps Jesus is asking you to Die to control, Die to greed, Die to our comfort?
Ask God - What are you asking me to die to in order that I could follow you into life?
Easter Sunday: Freed
Scripture:
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
Matthew 28:1-15
Summary:
Everyone has an opinion of easter and the empty tomb. No one comes to easter as a completely blank slate. We all have preconceived ideas about the story, about what happened and what it meant then and what it means now.
Followers of Jesus see the story as true, as truth, as what really happened and as foundational for human life. But we still need to rewind the story a little way so that we can put the story of Jesus into its proper context, into the story of creation so that we can see what Jesus is really doing.
In the beginning at creation, God made the heavens and the earth and all that lives on it. Humanity lived in the garden in harmony with God, in unbroken, unsullied relationship with him. But we rebelled, we insisted on turning away from God and doing our own thing. Sin enters the world, blighting all things, and causing a rift in all relationships: between ourselves and the rest of creation, between each other, and between us and God. All because we decided to believe something that wasn’t true.
What does God do in response? Well the rest of the story, from that point on, is God repairing the damage, God working to restore our relationships – which he does through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus suffers the consequences of all sin, of all the damage we have done to ourselves and each other. The resurrection is about God being loving enough to do this for us, not us being good enough to deserve it. Jesus defeated death. This is the good news. This is the news that tells us that the worst thing that could happen is not the last thing that will happen. Death is not the final act. Death does not get the final say. Death has been defeated. We have been set free from the consequence sof sin and death. This is the good news.
And like the women who visited the tomb in the early morning, we too have been told by Jesus to go and tell others what has happened, to share the good news of the resurrection and God’s offer of eternal life with others – with all others.
Questions to Consider:
Why does the resurrection matter?
What does mean to say that Jesus suffered and died?
What does living in the light of Jesus’s resurrection mean for you? How does it inform each day of your life?
Do you see resurrection signs in the world around you? What are they? What do they represent?
This passage ends with competing claims circulating about Jesus. Which one do you believe? Why?
Who could you go and tell?
Practice to Consider:
Worship - Spend time in worship together, praising Jesus for his obedient sacrifice that now allows us to come before the throne.
Prayer Prompts:
Pray for those who experienced God at Easter Camp, whether for the first time or during a time of renewal. Pray for a continuing sense of his presence and his love.