Easter Lessons

It is Easter, certainly an important day in the Christian calendar, arguably the most important. Through a variety of circumstances I was unable to attend a church service this morning. This is the first Easter since I've been saved that I wasn't in attendance at an Easter Service somewhere. However, in looking at the way I have spent my day, while it doesn't yet feel quite like Easter to me, it has been a very good day, a day of learning, and a day of celebration. I went out for lunch, and please stay with my because I have a point, to an oriental restaurant near my home. I love sushi, and especially Octopus sushi, which I haven't been able to have for quite some time. So I ordered Chirashi, with octopus, which happens to come with Miso soup. Chirashi (pronounced with an almost silent C), is fish with pickled vegetables served over a bed of sweetened sushi rice. As I was eating the Miso soup I burned to front of my tongue so I was unable to taste the sweetness of the rice. At first I was disappointed because I thought that my meal was ruined, but as I kept eating I realized that the other tastes in the Chirashi, the saltiness of the smoked salmon, the slightly bitter flavor of the pickled vegetables; and the texture of the fish, especially the octopus, stood out much more than they ever had before. I wound up have a very different dining experience that I had ever had eating Chirashi in the past.
Like I said, stay with me, because of this experience I started thinking about my day differently, not focusing on the fact that I had missed the Easter service, but seeing what I had done. Every Easter I make it a point to read Isaiah 52-53 and Matthew 27-28. While I was reading, with everything that I've just explained circling around in my mind, it stood out to me what the crucifixion must have been like for the disciples. As Christians we tend to focus on the crucifixion as our redemption, on Good Friday we focus on the pain that Christ experienced in the crucifixion followed by a Sunday celebration of his resurrection. However I had never really taken the time to consider what it must have been like for the disciples.
For three years they had followed Christ, this man who made the most ridiculous claims, but then backed them up with miracles. A man who taught the law with an authority that they had never seen, but at the same time rejected many of the teaching of the Pharisees. They had come to believe that this man was truly the son of God, the messiah that the Torah promised would come. Then, in the course of twenty-four hours, this man is betrayed by one of their own and they see him beaten to within an inch of his life, mocked, abused, and then executed in the most painful way known to man...and God does nothing to stop it.
This man who is supposed to lead this as a king, who claims to be the son of the almighty God, is simply executed and their hopes, dreams, and beliefs all go with him. I can only imagine the kind of despair that the disciples must have felt as they watched Christ die, it was the worst day of their lives, it must have been. I wonder if they believed that he would rise again, all the evidence in scripture seems to suggest otherwise, that after the crucifixion they gave up. Then, the day after the sabbath, the Marys go to visit the tomb and find that Christ has risen, that he is alive, no wonder Thomas doubted.
Overtime as the disciples went out and spread the faith the worst day of their lives becomes the best, the crucifixion comes to be associated not with hopelessness and despair, but with redemption and hope. It certainly gives me a different perspective on my problems, I hope it does the same for you.