Episode 206

TODAY’S READING:

17 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day, he will be raised to life!”

Matthew 20:17-19

 

Happy Easter Season! They say Easter Sunday is like Super Bowl Sunday for all Churches. We aren’t a church, but we are a community, and I really want us to grow deeper over the next three weeks, so welcome today to one of our Easter 2021 series.

 

Every time I read these verses, I am shocked. Let me explain a little bit; we know now 2,000 years after this day in History that Jesus was crucified. We know we rose from the dead 3 days later. We know that Peter, James, and John were fishermen, and we know that God asked them to drop everything to follow Him for three years. We know they were among His disciples; we know they witnessed miracles. We also know that after Jesus was crucified, they went back to fishing fish, not fishing for men.

 

This verse is just days before Jesus’ crucifixion. He told them, He warned them. He knew exactly what was about to transpire, yet when it happened, why didn’t they wait three days to see if what he said would, in fact, come true?

 

I was reading this passage over and over again, and I asked Manny (my boyfriend), why? Why was it so shocking to everyone that he rose from the dead? Isn’t this the point?

 

Why did they return to their old ways?

 

He said, “They were human, maybe they needed an anchor to ground them, and the only anchor they knew was the anchor of their old ways.”

 

And just like that, a light bulb went off.

 

We are human, and as humans, we tend to look for things we can attach ourselves to. The good news for you and me is that we don’t live in a weird reality where we think Jesus died and isn’t coming back. We get to live in a world where as this verse says, on the third day, he will rise.

 

So, on this beautiful Monday, I want to encourage you. Don’t go back to your old ways. Find your anchor in Jesus. You were called for much bigger and greater things. Celebrate His victory because he defeated death; you can turn away from your old habits and hang onto the promises of eternity. 

 

PRAYER

Father God, we thank you for the life of your son, Jesus. We thank you for your wisdom; we thank you for your sacrifice. Jesus, we are forever in awe of you and your goodness. We are gear to learn more about you and the choices you made on your final days on earth. Today we make you our anchor. Today we decide that your future for us is greater. Today we surrender our past. Today we make a promise to only continue to move forward into a life with you at the center. It is in your Holy Name that we pray, AMEN!