We are still at my parent’s home as I write this – I thought I would give you a glimpse into the glorious weekend the Lord gave us to celebrate the gift of redemption and life He gave us!
We checked out the butterflies at beautiful botanic garden near my parents’ house…
It was a beautiful day full of family time!
And we’ve had some good mom/daughter/sister bonding!
I asked my dad to take some pictures of me to refresh the ones on my blog, which also meant I got some like this:
We had our second annual family seder, and this year it was much more “official!”
So official, in fact, that Elijah himself came to our seder to explain it to us:
And as I write this post, I realized we forgot to take any pictures on Sunday! :) The cousins have had a fantastic time playing together, we pulled out the old slides and projector last night, and have laughed until our sides hurt! A few tears here and there… but good tears.
I hope you had a wonderful and blessed weekend celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. He is risen, He is risen indeed!
This is a repost from April, 2009. May you have a blessed day celebrating the hope of the resurrection!
I mentioned before that one of my most favorite Easter stories is Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the risen Jesus in the garden. Just thinking about this story starts making me teary.
We know from the gospel accounts that Mary Magdalene had quite a past. We don’t know details, but at one point Jesus drove seven demons out of this woman (Luke 8:2). That alone tells me that she is a deeply devoted follower of Christ! How can your life be transformed that radically and you not be completely committed to Your Savior? Add to that the fact that she was part of a group of women who followed Jesus, caring for his needs (Matthew 27:55-56) – this is a deeply personal connection. She has probably done their laundry in the river and worked on those stubborn stains, she has cooked their meals, she has voluntarily served and been available and witnessed the day to day activities of this God-man called Jesus.
No one knew her like Jesus. He had seen her at her very worst. I’m sure she wrestled with knowing the evil that was in her past, and yet when He looked at her, she saw no condemnation, no mockery, no insinuations of her guilt. She saw forgiveness. She saw love that she had never experienced before.
She knew Jesus in a way few people ever would. She knew Him well as the Son of God, healing the sickness of her soul. She heard Him teach with power and authority even as He compassionately touched the crippled and set aside “important” things to hold little children and laugh as they babbled to Him about the silly nonsense in their heads. She knew His favorite foods, the intonations of His voice, His mannerisms and facial expressions.
And suddenly, she found herself witnessing His torturous death along with the other grief-stricken women who had followed Him. (Matthew 27:55-56) I cannot even imagine the depth of their agony. Were they silent? Were they angry to see what was happening? Who was the first who could even utter a word? I sometimes wonder if I could have even stayed. How awful must that have been? Even in our deepest anguish, can we match the depth of pain of watching the One they knew was the Christ be murdered before their eyes?
We know that they stayed, for Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” were present when Joseph of Arimathea laid Jesus’ broken body in the tomb and sealed the entrance with the stone. (Matthew 27:59-61) What was it like to walk back home? To think that the One you believed would change the world, the One who you thought was the Promised Messiah who would make everything right again, was lying dead in a tomb never to live again? I imagine there were no sounds but the soft thuds of their footsteps on the dirt path as they walked back to where they were staying. Surely the question in their minds was “What now?”
We don’t know what happened on the Sabbath. I wonder if they were in hiding out of fear of the Jews, as we find the disciples doing after the resurrection. First thing on Sunday, though, we find the women walking to the tomb, intending to anoint Jesus’ body with spices. (Mark 16:1-3) An act of love, but they must have been dreading the task. They expected to find His dead body, grieve and mourn and honor Him the best they could, and go back – to what?
In her wildest imagination Mary could not have anticipated the experience that awaited her.
Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
John 20:10-16
Today I am thinking about my Rabboni. The One who knows the depth of my sin and chose me for His own. The One who washed away my guilt and sees me through eyes of love. I long to know my Jesus as Mary did – not just to study Him as an academic exercise of mind, but in the depth and core of my being to know Him.
As we think about His death and agony on the cross, praise the Lord that we know the end of the story! He is risen! He is risen indeed!
And one day (hopefully soon!), we will see Him face to face.
Last night we watched my sister and brother-in-law take part in their church’s excellent Easter drama. The performance was deeply moving, and I found myself looking at each character… wondering who I was in the story.
At any given point in my life, I can be some kind of combination of all the characters in the Biblical account of Christ’s life and passion.
The Pharisees, who loved their ability to keep the law more than they loved the One who fulfilled it.
The adulteress, deeply aware of her own sin, shamed before the community, and desperate for Christ’s forgiveness and restoration.
The children, who ran to Him full of faith and excitement, nothing holding them back from seeking and responding to this God-man Jesus.
The disciples, who loved Him and believed Him, but also faltered in their faith as they tried to understand God’s plan that was much bigger than they could have dreamed.
The crowd, who joyously waved palm branches and welcomed Him but didn’t understand the price He would pay and the cost of following Him.
Barabbas, who deserved to die and yet was given freedom when the Sinless One took his place.
Judas, who appeared to be a follower and yet sold His Savior for a bag of silver.
I find myself wondering… who am I?
I don’t know. I don’t know who I am in this story. And the thing is, even when I start out well and follow Him with the greatest enthusiasm and purest motives… I falter. My sin trips me up.
Am I a soldier, mercilessly beating my Lord? Am I a Pharisee, blinded by self?
Who am I? Will I ever really know?
My motives are never completely pure. My heart is bent toward sin. My will and perception tainted by the fall and my own sinful choices. What I desire to do I do not do, and what I do not want to do I do…
But I know who He is.
I know who My Redeemer is.
He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
He has the words of eternal life – to whom else would I go?
He is who He said He is. I believe Him.
So even when my own self shifts, my motives falter… this one thing I cling to.
I know who He is.
And ultimately, that’s all I need to know. That’s all I need to cling to. He defines me.
Perhaps you read Angie’s post yesterday and now are wondering what to do to focus your family on Christ’s resurrection rather than on pagan tradition. Here are a few ideas I thought I’d toss out for you.
Now let me just say… [this is purely my opinion and I do not expect everyone to agree with me!] I’m not a big fan of taking a pagan symbol (Easter eggs) and trying to “Christianize” it to make it more meaningful. Ie: resurrection eggs and the like. These can be useful, there’s nothing wrong with using them. BUT, what I am trying to do is create Biblically-consistent traditions for my family rather than trying to “sanctify” traditions already present in our culture. Like I said, you might disagree with me – and that is fine. I will not look down on your resurrection eggs if you don’t mind that I don’t use them. ;)
1. Consider observing Passover in your family and even holding your own version of a seder! [Give yourself some grace here... sometimes it doesn't turn out to be the Passover of our dreams!]
This post will give you a background on the importance of Passover. If you’re interested in attempting a seder, check out this helpful video from Jews for Jesus:
You can find a Messianic Passover Haggadah and instructions here. You can also read more about pictures of Christ in the Passover here.
2. Teach your kids how yeast often symbolizes sin in Scripture.
Bake bread together, discussing how a “little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” Then make homemade matzah together, discussing how removing the leven from the bread reminded the Israelites that their lives were to be pure and clean. In the same way, because our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed on our behalf, the “yeast” of sin needs to be searched out and removed from our lives. Use 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 as the basis of your discussion.
3. Discuss the meaning of “First Fruits”
Angie mentioned First Fruits and Jesus’ fulfillment of this feast in yesterday’s post. Plant grass seeds in small pots together, discussing Jesus’ words in John 12:23-24-
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, 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.
His death opened the door for life!
4. Make “resurrection cookies.”
There are several versions of resurrection cookies and rolls that I have seen. Courtney posted the Easter story cookie recipe/ instructions last week, and you can find “resurrection rolls” here.
5. Make an Easter Garden basket- I loved this post from Ann Voskamp. We made our own garden this morning! We’ll be adding things to our garden all week. Perhaps it will show up as a after-Easter post. :)
6. Create your own box of repentences this week – surely we all have some things we can fill it with even in a few days. :| Take them outside or kindle a fire in your fireplace and burn them together on Good Friday – watch the flames destroy your slips of paper containing your deepest sin… and discuss what Jesus did for us that day at Calvary.
7. Make your own “wordless book” bracelets using beads of your choice. If you want to make traditional “wordless book” bracelets, you can find instructions here and cards explaining the meaning of the colors here. Never heard of the wordless book? Read this.
Have other ideas you’d like to share? I would love to hear them!
