Don't Wait Until Easter
Written by: Andrew & Sara Knight
Easter is a glorious celebration of our Savior! In the joy, the singing, the big meals, the fellowship we cherish, the celebrating what Jesus has done for us, we must also reckon with our sin and failure. Easter is most beautiful when we realize our part in it.
Easter itself is full of contrasts. The beautiful with the ugly. The joy mixed with grief. The glory with the grit of selfless love. We see this in Matthew’s account in Matthew 21:1-11. Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem on a colt, fulfilling several Old Testament prophecies. He is expressing that He is the true King and that we do not have to fear with Him as our leader. He is honored, celebrated, and welcomed. People are joyfully worshipping and reciprocating his expression as the Messiah. It all seems right.
After this, Jesus goes to the temple and drives out all of the people working and bartering to sell animals for sacrifices (Mathew 21:12-17). Jesus overturns tables and scolds the religious establishment for turning His Temple into a transaction. This is hardly the scene we see earlier. Anger, rage, wrong doing, misunderstanding. This is the new King exercising His authority. He sees the moral wrong, is righteously angry, and wants the wrongs to be done away with. The money-changers show how God’s sacrificial system has been exchanged for a cheapened ritual. Instead of bringing one’s own animal before God’s altar, they can purchase a quick remedy in its place. A quick exchange of money to appease the formality of sacrificial law steals the seriousness of sin from the celebrants and lines the pockets of the religious establishment. This grieves Jesus and angers Him. All was not right.
This Easter, God wants our hearts, not just the hands of obeying external requirements. He wants our worship, not our works! Jesus reacts strongly in the Temple to condemn a shallow and selfish practice of atonement. We are reminded earlier in Matthew with Jesus’ words:
“But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13 ESV)
May we go and learn what this means this Easter. The Jesus who overturned tables, would turn the tables against Himself and drink down the damnation due the whole world. No sacrifice, bought or brought, could do what Jesus’ sacrifice has done.
As Jesus shouted and cracked His whip in the Temple that day, I must imagine that Jesus could not help but reckon with the whip that was soon to be on His own back. I can’t help but think Jesus must have been looking forward to the next few days where he would take this sin, and all our sin, and would be separated from God for us. He endured the pain, the isolation, the loss of hope, the fear that would come from not being with God, on our behalf. As he overturned tables and drove out the merchants and sellers, he must have anticipated the pain he would feel because of this sin. He would bear it all alone.
Let us walk with Him this Easter and put ourselves in His shoes this week as we read about the last days of the last week of His earthly life. As you read over Jesus’ last days, consider what must have been on his mind and heart during these last moments. Invite a friend, church member, neighbor, or co-worker to join you in one of the days of the below Easter reading plan. The Passion week readings are powerful and purposeful. It’s our most central Christian holiday. Invite someone to celebrate with you. Tell them they can celebrate with you by reading a portion of the Easter story with you. If someone has never read the Bible on their own, Easter week is a prime opportunity to invite them to experience the greatest week the world has ever known!
Easter Reading Plan
Luke 20:1-21:4
Luke 22:1-6
Luke 22:7-46
Luke 22:47-23:56
Matthew 27:62-66
Luke 24:1-53