This Easter, take a moment … and thank Him

30 Mar 2024

The Daily Times

Easter was always one of my favorite days of the year.

When my children were little, we would dress in our Sunday best and go to church.

They never complained as I fidgeted with their ties.

Such little gentlemen when they wanted to be. And fortunately, that was most of the time.

Once inside the church, they were always so well-behaved.

Sitting quietly while the preacher spoke his sermon. Many adults don’t even act that way.

Watching them walk down to the front pews during the children’s sermon and trying to answer the questions asked of them.

I miss that.

I remember an Easter when I served as the morning’s lay leader.

Standing before a fairly large congregation, (because there are some people who only attend church on Christmas Eve and Easter and this was one of those two) I didn’t want to just stand before them and read from a bulletin.

I wanted something more.

So, I decided to remind them how I had witnessed the church as a whole give a standing ovation following the choir’s special performances.

I informed them of the times they applauded at the conclusion of a children’s program.

I told them I had witnessed standing during hymns, reciting the Apostle’s Creed and saying the Lord’s Prayer.

The times we stood and clapped for the bell choir after they did a rendition of a favorite song.

And then I asked those seated before me why we have never rose from our seats and gave a standing ovation to Jesus?

I questioned why wasn’t His rising from the dead on that third day not enough to bring us to our feet? Why wasn’t Him being willing to suffer an agony like no other not worthy of showing our appreciation?

Three days ago, this man laid down His life for the world’s people.

People who despised him.

And the suffering He edured? Anguish which far surpassed that of those intense physical lashings he received.

Far more suffering than being forced to wear that crown of thorns.

Have you ever really thought about that?

A crown of thorns?

I cannot fathom what our Jesus went through.

While physically nailed to that cross, His spirit was also suffering.

Suffering from the betrayal of those he had considered friends.

Men rejected him. Deemed him a liar.

He was mocked. Everyone walking by wagged their head when they saw him on that cross.

But perhaps His most intense suffering came when His father cut him off. When God hid His face from His son.

Because on that cross, Jesus represented sin.

No, Jesus had never sinned.

We had.

But on that cross Jesus became sin. For us.

And He chose to pay for those sins so that we might have eternal salvation.

How do you not stand and thank him for that?

We show our appreciation for something through applause, do we not?

Why weren’t we applauding what Jesus did for us on that Good Friday?

Why weren’t we rising these three days later after he rose and walked away … leaving only an empty tomb behind?

Why do we not take those five simple seconds to silently say a simple, “Thank you, Jesus for being willing to give your life so that I may live for eternity?”

Perhaps we should.

Every Good Friday, I turn to the sky and reflect on life’s greatest loss.

At least for those three days.

The horrendous agony and unimaginable suffering He endured.

For us.

I learned in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School that Jesus loves me.

I even recall the song that tells me he does.

I had a better understanding of this from listening to church sermons.

I had a better understanding from having served as a deacon, a lay leader, a Sunday School teacher and a VBS teacher.

I learned more about the reasons Jesus laid down his life.

For us.

But it wasn’t until I sat in a movie theater in 2004 and watched the Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated film “Passion of the Christ,” that I truly knew.

Those images replay in my mind quite often. They still do.

It’s as if those 20 years ago was yesterday.

I have not watched the film since. There’s no need.

What He went through will stay with me forever.

I cry every time I think about it.

At the movie’s conclusion, you could have literally heard a pin hit the floor.

No one in the theater had spoken a word.

Not even in the parking lot.

The car ride home was quiet, too.

I have never felt the need to apologize more than I did at the end of Mel Gibson’s $600 million box office hit that is the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.

And I did.

I did apologize.

When I was finally able to speak again, I begged His forgiveness for how He was betrayed, doubted, treated and killed.

When I was able to find my voice again, it contained nothing but regret.

Nothing but sorrow.

And as I stood before the congregation that Easter Sunday asking why we have never stopped and given Jesus a standing ovation as a way of expressing our appreciation, something changed.

I suddenly saw each and every person in that sanctuary rise.

And I watched as they put their hands together in what seemed like forever.

And that was another feeling I will remember. Forever.

It was such a relief to realize that I wasn’t the only one to believe Jesus deserves at least that much on the most beautiful of days.

Today is a day full of promise.

And hope.

Today I would hope that you will take a moment and remember that cross.

I ask that you pause for a second and reflect on the wonder of that empty tomb.

And I pray you will recall all of the emptiness in between.

This was that single moment which changed the world.

Forever.

And nothing is more beautiful than that.