Happy Holy Week, Passion Week, Resurrection Week.
No, Easter is not a pagan holiday. Easter is the celebration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Jesus, the
Son of God, died for our sins on a Roman cross, was buried, and rose to life
again, on the the third day. (Luke 24:1).
Happy Easter.
We were recently asked, “So where’d we get the word, Easter,
and why an, Easter Bunny?”
According to,
gotquestions.org, it is commonly thought that the word Easter comes from a
pagan figure called Eastre (or Eostre) who was celebrated as the goddess of
spring by the Saxons of Northern Europe. The only problem with this theory is
that it has no basis in history. The existence of a goddess named Eastre or a
spring festival in her honor is based on conjecture, as is the the origin
of the Easter bunny and Easter eggs. The word Easter is probably related
to the word east (ost in German) and that the Saxons had a month they called
Eosturmononath.
Wikipedia states that the Easter Bunny is a folkloric
figure depicted as a rabbit—sometimes dressed with clothes—bringing
Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" played
the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in
behavior at the start of the season of Eastertide, similar to the "naughty
or nice" list made by Santa Claus.
Christ lived, died, rose, and is coming
back again—that is no conjecture.
The last week, of Christ gets a lot of
attention in the gospels. Matthew
devotes two-fifths of his writing to the final week of Jesus. Mark, even more
at three-fifths. One third of Luke and almost half of John.
As we drop into the latter part of Luke, Jesus is headed
toward Jerusalem, knowing this will be the last week of His life, in that body,
on this earth.
If you knew this was your last week on the planet, how
would you live?
For over three years He poured into the people, all
people. It was a whirlwind of activity. Every time He spoke crowds gathered, multitudes
followed, masses rallied. He healed the sick, all kinds of sick, folks so sick
it could make you sick just to go near them; but He’d walk right up and touch
them, hug them, hold them, heal them. He multiplied a few scraps of food to
feed thousands. He even walked on water. With just a word He silenced storms,
critics...and legions of demons. More than once, He actually, raised the dead.
Even more than all that, He gave hope. Hope in what
they’d waited for, prayed for, believed for…for generations. That Messiah would
come and restore the kingdom to Israel.
Luke
19:29-31, And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the
mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying, “Go into
the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on
which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. And if anyone asks
you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has
need of it.’ ”
John chapter twelve tells us Jesus went to Bethany,
six days before the Passover, and the next day, is when He sends two disciples
on this colt finding mission. John 12:1,12.
His popularity is at its peak. But that had no effect
on His passion, or plan. His friends, Lazarus, Martha and Mary, lived in
Bethany, and that’s likely where He stayed much of His last week.
It was only about two miles or less, from Jerusalem.
Adjacent to the Mount of Olives, where’d He’s spend much of His time.
Although He’s God, and could’ve easily stayed anywhere,
or snapped His fingers to create a colt out of thin air.
He didn’t.
He stayed with friends.
He dispatched disciples to fetch the donkey. (Other gospels tell us this is a donkey’s colt; not a horse. Matthew 21:1-2, John 12).
God chooses to use people. Regular people to do
regular things. Open a home. Run an errand. Lend a car, a hand…a donkey.
32
So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them.
33 But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them,
“Why are you loosing the colt?”
34
And they said, “The Lord has need of him.”
Those sent, went. If we are willing and obedient, we too, will find it just as He said. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be conflict, delays, folks who say, “Why are you…” We should respond as they did. And they said… what the Lord had said. Just as Jesus did in His temptations, it is written.
The Word, is our Source. Always. Forever.
Sometimes, (a lot) God will ask us to do hard things. Out of the ordinary things. This wasn’t a normal thing to just walk up and take someone else’s animal, mode of transportation, or means for hauling things.
Get
caught doing that back in the ol’ west and they’d say, “Get a rope.”
Once again, Jesus relied on people. As far as we’re
told, this time He relied on the kindness of strangers, to release the donkey, to
meet His need.
Of course, being omniscient (all knowing) He knew how
it’d all turn out, but He didn’t force anyone’s hand, or will.
Are we willing?
Will He ask you to help Him, because He
knows He can count on you?
Like Abraham. (Genesis 22:16-17).
35
Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt,
and they set Jesus on him. 36 And as He went, many spread their
clothes on the road.
Ummm, didn’t He say a colt on which no one has
ever sat?
Sometimes (a lot) God will ask us to do things that don’t
make sense to our logical minds, things that seem impossible.
Either the disciples and Jesus are donkey whisperers…or,
He who calms the sea with a word, has no problem taming a colt with a touch.
With God, all things are possible.
37
Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole
multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice
for all the mighty works they had seen, 38 saying:
“
‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Peace
in heaven and glory in the highest!”
The crowd was quoting from, Psalm 118:26.
Matthew tells us this is a fulfillment of, Zechariah
9:9:
“All
this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
saying:
5
“Tell the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold,
your King is coming to you,
Lowly,
and sitting on a donkey,
A
colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ” Matthew 21:4-5.
Jesus didn’t get a donkey because He was tired. He found
Himself in scripture, and fulfilled it.
We should do the same.
Riding the donkey like that was a gesture that said, “Behold
your King.” Furthermore, since He was on a donkey not a horse, He was
saying your King, comes in peace.
Jesus came to bring peace between God and man. His
purpose was to make a way to conquer sin, forever.
One day, in the not so distant future, after the Tribulation,
He will come again to that same Mount of Olives, but He won’t come in peace, He
won’t be on a donkey, He’ll be on a white horse, coming for war. Revelation 19.
You do not want to be on the wrong side of that
battle.
Now, notice the reason they’re praising God: for
all the mighty works they had seen.
They were looking for a king to conquer Rome. They wanted
Him to establish the earthly throne of David.
The Kingdom Jesus was establishing first, was Heavenly,
eternal. Seek first the Kingdom of God…Matthew 6:33.
39
And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your
disciples.”
40
But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent,
the stones would immediately cry out.”
I could. But you won't like it. Stones crying out will really freak out.
Perhaps Jesus said that with a lump in His throat, and tears about ready to flow, because He knew that this was a Divine Moment, that even the rocks recognized…but they refused.
Psalm 19:1-4
1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.
4 Yet their message has gone throughout
the earth,
and their words to all the world.
41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it
Before the week is over, Jesus will weep again, not
far from here, just down the hill, at the base of the Mount of Olives, in the
Garden of Gethsemane. Luke 22:44, Hebrews 5:7-8.
There’s two times recorded in the gospels where it
says Jesus wept. Here, and also at the grave of Lazarus. However, the
original text uses different words for: wept.
Luke 19:41. Klaió:
weep aloud, expressing uncontainable, audible grief
John 11:35 (Lazarus
grave). Akrýō: to shed quiet tears; to weep silently.
At the tomb of Lazarus,
Jesus silently shed a tear. Here, however, He sobs, aloud, with uncontainable,
audible grief. He is heartbroken over what happens to people, due to the sin of
refusing to recognize Him.
Have you wept for the
lost?
Lord, please give us Your
passion for the lost. Use us, to win them.
Winners of souls, must
first be weepers of souls. Charles Spurgeon.
42 “If
you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for
your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For days will
come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround
you and close you in on every side, 44 and level you, and your
children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone
upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
His voice and heart had to be breaking when He said those words.
In 70 AD the Romans leveled Jerusalem. They took olive
trees and lit them on fire and burned the city. The olive oil burned so hot it
melted the gold. Soldiers, did not leave one stone upon another as they pried
the gold from between the stones.
You can visit Jerusalem and see those very stones, right where they fell. So, those stones are crying out, after all; from that day to this, testifying to the Truth.
Now, let's bring it home.
Several hundred years earlier, the exact
day, of that very donkey ride, was prophesied.
Daniel 9:26-27. An angel tells Daniel about the future,
using a seventy-week scenario. He says that from the command to restore
Jerusalem until the Messiah, will be 483 years. Then, (after that) the Messiah
will be killed.
Sir Robert Anderson; was head of Scotland Yard's
criminal investigation, a theologian and a writer. His book, The Coming Prince, records that a commandment was given to restore Jerusalem, March
14, 445 BC. On that date, Artaxerxes,
the Persian king, told the Jews, to go back and rebuild Jerusalem. Nehemiah 2:4-9.
Robert calculated the total number of days to be 173,880. Then, counted forward from the date of Artaxerxes' command, (using the Babylonian/Jewish calendar) and came to the 10th of Nisan (April 6), 32 AD. The exact day Jesus rode into Jerusalem.
The day of their visitation was prophesied, written
and predicted, centuries before.
They could’ve recognized Him, should’ve been ready for their Messiah, their King.
So should we.
But they were not.
Jesus wept; aloud, expressing uncontainable, audible
grief.
They were left desolate with not one stone left upon
another.
They had been warned, were given signs.
So have we.
Lord, help us not miss the day of Your visitation.
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