Resurrection week series
Part 1
I first heard the phrase Big Kingdom vs little kingdom about a decade ago. A lady at church said it in passing and I halted and asked what she meant. She explained that Big Kingdom issues have long lasting eternal consequences, little kingdom tends to be the trivial things we cloud our thoughts with. This way of thinking has stuck with me.
Not every day is going to be easy-some are going to be downright difficult. Some will feel discouraging and we’ll sit wringing our hands wondering what we should do next. In those moments, please pause and ponder just for a brief moment. Is what your feeling and fretting now a Big Kingdom or a little kingdom problem?
(Big Kingdom) Does your child understand love and grace and patience? (little kingdom) Or do they know more about the latest greatest trend?
(Big Kingdom)Is you child regularly hearing and seeing Jesus in their home? (little kingdom) Or do their clothes look matched and coordinated when walking into the church building?
When we really truly plot it down, spell it out for all it is, it’s sobering. Those trends and trivial pettiness may be growing a wedge between you and your children. Sowing roots that will become thorns. And wedges don’t remove themselves. Wedges, by default, are designed to split bonds.
Part 2
Lessons from Eden
God knew we wouldn’t understand joy until we experienced sadness. We wouldn’t understand the beauty of a mountain view if we hadn’t learned how to climb out of valleys. We wouldn’t understand our soul’s need for communion until we experienced the ache of separation. Humanity warned, but unable to comprehend the catastrophic severity of their choices, placed a veil between themselves and Love.
Our cries.
Our tears.
They’re our roaming calls looking for Home.
But, Home won’t be found on mortal soil.
So, we hunt.
We hunt for the One that holds us cradled between. We hunt for He that split the veil, who balms our aches and seals our broken humanity.
We’ve been scrambling in a million gazillion ineffective ways since Eden to return.
But Sunday is coming.
Part 3
I remember a year where my word of the year was peace-because I was searching for a piece of peace more than anything else.
I remember looking for calms within the storms.
I remember hunting down places for quiet stillness, places to become the foot of the cross.
I remember so 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺, so 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺, so 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 wanting something inside of my chest to feel whole again. And what I found? 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣.
Peace isn’t a place-Peace is a person.
Part 4
For most of Israel, that Friday had nothing to do with the the King of Kings-it was about preparing the Passover.
The high priest had set requirements that he had to complete to prepare himself to enter the Holy of Holies. Preparing for Passover and the remembrance of God’s deliverance required preparation and precision(God’s always in the details, yes?).
Everything faithfully had to be just right, no detail left unattended. Only the high priest entered at the appointed time into the Holy of Holies-the pressure certainly had intensity as he prepared to enter into the very presence of God, his heart preparing to crawl under the veil of the temple that separated God from man. One wrong decision while in there meant certain death.
As a planner by nature, I imagine the high priest faithfully checking off his to-do list in preparation for his yearly meeting with God.
Even with all the pressure to perform, there could be relief knowing he would be in the presence of perfection and fulfilling his priestly obligation to the people of Israel; however, his world was preparing to shake and forever change.
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split .
-Matthew 27:51
The veil of the temple-woven as intricately as the human race, a woven shield that protected from an Almighty holiness higher than we can humanly comprehend-shredded top to bottom.
This very shredding was not on the checklist of the high priest that afternoon.
The very veil that was tightly woven rent top to bottom, revealing our Savior had fulfilled His earthly duty as well-the veil was no longer needed.
Part 5
Without a doubt, the resurrection of Jesus permanently transformed history; 𝙗𝙪𝙩, 𝙤𝙣 𝙎𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩.
On Saturday, the felt loss was still piercing deep. On Saturday, while the rest of Israel was still Passover celebrating and carrying on with life, they ached.
It’s not much different than when we feel the aches that we believe no one else feels or understands.
We ache, we long, we crave. We fear we’ve been lost or forgotten.
Here’s what we often forget, that 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘸. Feeling lost and shuffled deep has been felt since the garden-that feeling of loss Eve certainly felt when she was ultimately aware of how human she really was.
While Eve knew what it felt like to commune with God and ultimately lose it, we ache to have our soul sealed whole too.
Today, wholeness is available; but on Saturday, they were still expectant, clutched to faith and promise, waiting and watching and walking expectantly for how it would all play out.
Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment . Luke 23:56
They continued with their day to day life while still faithfully adhering to their beliefs, their Promise fulfilled.
They held firmly that a holy promise from heaven would not forget them. They didn’t know exactly how, but 𝙎𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜.
Part 6
I spent some time pondering what we would do for Easter this year. I went and opened the gospels to find out what everyone else was doing that first resurrection morning.
No one was putting on fancy clothes or humming praise songs. Nobody was fretting about how they would get the kiddos ready to get to church on time.
What they did the Resurrection Sunday was to go and visit the tomb. When they got there, they met the unexpected, saw an empty grave and thought they’d been robbed, unaware they were on holy ground.
In Mary’s seeking and weeping, He called her name.
Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
-John 20:16
When Mary heard just His voice, that was all she needed. She knew she was hearing the holy, hearing the Divine. She heard His voice, her 𝘙𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘪.
Today, let’s pause in quiet for a bit, let’s listen for our 𝘙𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘪.
Let’s feel the tombs of our hearts shake and open and hear His voice.
He is Risen-He is Risen Indeed!
It is darkest right before the dawn. You haven’t been forgotten or forsaken. Hope is still here and alive.
