There are 3 things that God is passionate about and one thing that comes out of these I have come to know and appreciate.
First of all, God is passionate about bringing Glory to Himself. In all that He does, everything seen and unseen, visible and invisible is designed to bring Him glory. Second, God is passionate about His Son, Jesus. God goes to great length to glorify the Son to bring glory to the Father. Third, God is passionate about having a relationship with His creation.
The one thing that comes out of these is His activity. God is active in all things; and not just active in the ways that we usually think about. What is God active in? He's active in creating; bringing new into the previously non-existent. He's active in sustaining; what He has already created must be maintained, sustained and otherwise taken care of. He is active in listening; in particular to the prayers and cries of His children.
One thing that we don't think of or consider is that God is active in pursuing. God is always in pursuit of His creation for the purpose of relationship. The God-head in its Tri-unity - its Trinity - is and always has been about relationship; an active relationship. The God-head of Father, Son and Holy Spirit has always been in a perfect relationship; a perfect community. In this community They lack nothing. They each have 100% of the other, all of the time; from eternity past and into eternity future. And that's why God is always in pursuit of us; of you and me. Minute by minute, day in and day out, year after year. God is always pursuing His personal relationship with us as individuals. This relationship is not for His benefit per se, but it is for ours. God desires us to be in relationship with Him; He's already in relationship with us.
This is the difference in perspective and action when biblical, orthodox Christianity is compared and contrasted to every other religious system that humankind has ever developed or participated in. Other religions have their adherents chase after or attempt to reach God. That's impossible! He is Creator, we are created. He is perfect and holy, we are not nor ever will be. There is an infinite chasm that exists between Him and us and without Him providing a way, it is impossible to cross that chasm. And yet, God wishes that we DO come to Him. Thankfully He has provided a way through Jesus.
These are wondrous and sweeping thoughts! For me they are almost mind crushing as I attempt to fathom the depth that God loves me and is always in pursuit of me. He wants me close. He wants me completely dependent upon Him for everything that is going on in my life at any and all times. When I am fully plugged into Eternity, I can do all things and I do all things for His glory. And as I give Him glory, He allows me to participate in that glory.
So what does all of this have to do with celebrating the Christian holidays of Christmas and Easter you ask? EVERYTHING!
Christmas and Easter serve as bookends to the story of Jesus. His birth at Christmas and His temporary death at Easter. In these 2 holidays hangs the glorification of God, the never-ending relationship of the Members of the Trinity and the active pursuit of the restoration of the Their relationship with Their creation.
New Life.
There's something about a baby or infant or even a grade school aged child that is instantly restorative. We can once again experience innocence. We can once again experience purity. My kids are all grown now, but I love being with my grandson, even if it's just on the phone. I love holding my friends newborn children or grandchildren.Their speech is without guile. It's honest and pure. Their contentedness rests solely in whom they are with.
As we simply hold and behold our children and grandchildren, so it is with God the Father and His special relationship with Jesus, God the Son. Jesus is Someone very special and the Father makes much of Him. As we like to make much of our kids and have a special relationship with them, so it is with the Father and the Son.
I'm going to make the assumption that we all agree that God always brings glory to Himself in everything that He has accomplished and is accomplishing in and through His creation. We could spend hours discussing that but I want to concentrate on the other two points of the Father's passion for showing off His Son Jesus and the passion of restoring our relationship with the Father.
The ages had passed. Since the fall of Adam, all of Creation had been groaning and waiting to be restored. When sin entered the world, everything changed. From weeds and briars to sickness and eventual death. This was not what God had intended; but there was already a great and divine Plan already in place. But we would have to wait, patiently or impatiently. Everything would have to wait. Throughout His story, history, God is always pursuing man: at the Fall, the Flood, the calling of Abraham, the rescue of the Hebrew from bondage in Egypt, the restoration of the nation of Israel. God always has a plan and His plan requires meticulous planning and execution.
And then it was time! The waiting was over. The action would begin. But it wouldn't begin as mankind would think. And why not? After all mankind is smart and could dream big.
Remember that we're talking about God! His Plans and ways are so much higher and glorious than ours could ever be; and when He works we usually can't believe it. Humankind was expecting a white knight as it were to riding onto the scene and rescue us from greed and oppression; from sickness and death. But the outward signs of the problem of sin, the symptoms, were not the root of the problem. God was about to get to the root of problem, sin itself!
This is My Son.
We see God the Father making much of Jesus in Gospels. Obviously. And He is always beckoning us to "come and see!" And we would usually "come and see," and boy, there would be something to see!
At the Nativity, the Father sends an angelic host to herald Jesus' birth. The shepherds drop what they're doing and go and see. It was quite a sight and a normal kind of way and yet the shepherds knew that this was a big deal. Ditto for the wise men who came afterwards. Angels may not have beckoned them, but His Scriptures and His Signs certainly did. These wise men also knew this was astonishing and a very big deal.
From the beginning of His earthly ministry God the Father was calling out to His creation, "here is MY SON!"
As Jesus grew to adolescence, God would call attention to Jesus by having Him stay back in the temple while the rest of the family was headed back to Nazareth. "Where is our son?" Mary and Joseph wondered and so they returned to Jerusalem to find their teenage son sitting with the great teachers of the Law in the Temple. Jesus was obviously no ordinary teen.
A Life of Ministry.
Now the hard work began. Not really hard, but the concentrated, purposeful work of Jesus was to begin. Jesus started off by being baptized in the Jordan by His cousin John. John says to the crowd, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29, and then as Jesus comes out of the water, the Father Himself thunders out from Heaven "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:17. What an acclamation!
God was continually pointing men and women to Jesus. Men and women everywhere were searching for God, but God was actively and purposefully pursuing men and women. How actively and purposefully was Jesus pursuing us? Throughout the Gospels we read Jesus saying to people, "come, follow me" or "I will dine with you". Jesus is always about purposeful action. He is always condescending to us so that we may know Him as well as we can; as well as our finite minds can comprehend.
How else did the Father call attention to Jesus? His miracles. His teaching; He taught with power and authority. His healing; Jew or gentile, Jesus healed those who had faith to come to Him. His humanity; people knew that Jesus cared about others (people noticed when He wept for Lazarus at his tomb before calling His friend back to life). People flocked to Jesus from far and wide. And finally the Father called to attention to us in His Deity. On the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father would reveal Jesus deity in a way that astonished His disciples and again the Father speaks from Heaven: "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to Him!" Luke 9:35. The Father is always emphatic about people seeing Who Jesus is and Why we need to listen and follow Him.
And then things changed
Even up to Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem several days before the Passover, things seemed good. You know, when things are going well, we don't mind "coming and seeing Jesus". When everything is seemingly positive, it's awesome. But when life appears to slip and looks like it's going sideways, we start backing off. A good example is when Jesus cleansed the Temple area of the money changers. I'm sure people began thinking, "what's up with this dude?, this isn't what I bought into." Jesus ways - God's ways - are not our ways.
By the wee hours of Friday morning, things would get much worse, and yet, the Father still has His eyes, heart and Plan focused on Jesus. The heavenly spotlight is on Jesus. The Father still has His focus on restoring our relationship with Him. Within hours the crowd (us) would be almost completely against Him. Let's pick up the story in Luke 23:44-49. It is a very sad passage, but this is where most of us are...
"It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things."
When things go sideways, we get fidgety and start backing away. I don't know about you, but when my modern life falling into my old sinful nature or is not smooth, I sometimes back away from Jesus. I like to be with Him when I'm okay. But when things are really going south, rather than clinging tightly to Him with all of my being, I pull back. I am wanting to be in fellowship with Him, but for whatever reason, I'll stand at a distance. Sometimes I'll be at such a distance that things - life, relationships, activities, personal well being - just fall apart. The thing is though, that's when we really need to be close by.
The farther I stand back, the darker it becomes.
Come and see!
As I've struggled through life these past couple of years, especially when it's gotten really dark, I will get to the point where I not only want an Easter Sunday, but I NEED an Easter Sunday. The fact of the matter is that none of us can do anything truly worthwhile without Jesus in our lives. Like many of you, I'll contort myself into "getting by" or "getting through" as best as I can through my own thoughts and actions, but there's finally going to come a point where I can't do it on my own strength.
In my self-inflicted sorrow, I have to go back to Jesus because that's the only place left to go. Nothing else satisfies. Nothing else heals. The disciples were exactly at that state of mind after the Crucifixion. It all seemed lost; there would be no redemption, no life, no nothing. Life would go on sucking. Let's call it what it is when Jesus isn't included in the mix.
But let's continue the story in Luke 24:1-6. This is glorious!
"But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen."
In other words, the angel guarding the tomb says "come and see!" But there's NOTHING to SEE!
And that's the whole point! There's nothing to see, but there's EVERYTHING TO SEE! Jesus provides the ONE thing that can save you and me and restore our relationship with God. If there had been a body in that tomb, there would be nothing to Hope for, nothing to have Faith in. With a risen, living Savior, there is eternal hope and faith that all will one day be well.
I struggle with sin; so do you! There's an empty tomb... Jesus conquered sin and death! Sin and death can be gone for you! I struggle with physical and mental infirmities; so do you! There's the empty tomb ... Jesus has conquered sickness and disease that racks our bodies and our minds. I struggle with what's not 100% in my professional life and close relationships; so do you! There's the empty tomb... Jesus conquered all of the sin and waste that interferes with our relationships.
So what is it about the empty tomb (nothing to see!) that is so amazing? Jesus has done what neither you or I could possibly do in a million lifetimes of trial and struggle. In other words, Jesus has accomplished the IMPOSSIBLE! With the empty tomb we CAN have complete Faith that Jesus has done it all for us AND we can have complete HOPE that He will continue to be there for us regardless of our sin and struggles. The Resurrection and the empty tomb are both guarantees of what God has done, is doing and will continue to do for us as the Eternal Plan unfolds until He comes again.
Regardless of how deep the water rises in the valley, regardless of how countless the dark days may be, Hope truly is ALIVE! Death is done! Hell is overcome! Jesus LIVES! And we can take that to the bank because the Tomb is Empty!
Dear friend, whether your life is going well or sideways or south, don't stand at a distance. No matter what, REMEMBER the empty tomb. You and I both have a God who loves us so much that He continually says, "come and see!" Come and see the empty tomb and REMEMBER that Jesus has actively conquered it all. God is Glorified. The Son is Magnified. We are brought back into our eternal relationship.
Brett Yonker & Passion, "Remember"
