The mystery & victory of the resurrection

Rev. Mike Henning
Walkersville United Methodist Church

(4/1) When fall turns into winter, many plants, flowers, shrubbery, and trees become dormant, and some animals hibernate, all trying to protect themselves from the harsh cold of winter. It is a season of restoration and rest. When winter loosens its grip as the days lengthen with sunlight and warmer temperatures and gives way to the arrival of spring, we see a ‘resurrection’ of sorts taking place in nature. Everything begins to awaken from its winter nap. Flowers push their way upward through the earth toward the warmth of the sun and burst forth with their colors. Shrubbery and trees go from budding to blooms, to foliage; and the animals come out of their burrows and caves ready to experience life in its fullest. All of this activity comes from a somewhat drab, fairly barren, and seemingly lifeless landscape that gives way to this resurrection of new life each spring. As the hymn, Hymn of Promise, states in part; "In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,… From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,… In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory, unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see."

We can think of the season of Lent (the forty day period before Easter) like that of nature coming out of its dormant stage into its growing stage. Lent is a more somber, penitential spirit, a time of reflection, fasting, repentance, and preparation (like wintertime in nature) for celebrating Easter with all of its glory, mystery, and victory of Jesus’s resurrection (like springtime in nature)!

The week before Jesus was crucified, (known as Holy Week, Passion/Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday, April 10-16 this year) was one of extreme emotions and sharp contrasts for Jesus, His disciples, and followers. From the triumphant entry into Jerusalem with the crowds shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" Waving palm branches and a joyous celebration on what we call Passion/Palm Sunday. To the polar opposite shouts of "Crucify Him. Crucify Him!" on what is known as Good Friday. During that week Jesus and His hand-picked twelve disciples/apostles gathered in an upper room to celebrate the feast of Passover. While there Jesus washed the disciples feet as a sign that He came to earth to serve rather than to be served. They ate the traditional Seder meal together, then Jesus initiated what we call Holy Communion, the Eucharist, in the breaking of break and taking a sip of wine together. All the while, one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, had already agreed to betray Jesus at the first opportunity to do so later that same night (Thursday). The scene then shifts to Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane. According to Luke, Jesus prayed so intently that His sweat was like drops of blood (see Luke 22:44). Judas came and betrayed Jesus with a kiss, which was the sign He gave as the one the guards were to arrest. Judas became so distraught once he realized what he had done, he hanged himself.

This takes us from late Thursday night into the wee hours of Friday morning as Jesus was subjected to a mock trial. As time passed, Peter was questioned three times, ‘aren’t you a disciple of that Jesus?’ Each time Peter denied knowing Jesus – just as Jesus predicted Peter would do before the rooster crowed twice during the night – it all come to fruition. Peter was ashamed at what he had done, denying His Lord and Savior. Friday came, a day we call Good Friday now, but it was anything but good for Jesus then. He was whipped, spit upon, mocked, and beaten. He was so badly tortured He was almost unrecognizable, and then He was forced to carry His own cross to Calvary where He was nailed to a cross. Crucifixion was the worse form of punishment and death to be carried out in those times.

During Jesus’s deepest times of need and support, He was all alone. Judas betrayed Him, Peter denied Him, and the rest all scattered, deserting Him, just as He predicted. The only exceptions were His mother, Mary, and a couple other women, and John one of the disciples. Other than those few, Jesus faced all He endured by Himself. Why? He did it for you…and me – all of us. Jesus willingly suffered and died on that cross to take the sin of the world upon Himself, and in exchange He offers us – all of us, the gift of salvation and eternal life! Jesus was obedient to His heavenly Father, our God; obedient to die for our sin. That’s how much He loves us, He always has, and He always will! After it was determined Jesus in fact was dead, His body was quickly taken down off the cross and hastily put in a tomb. There was no time to do a proper preparation of the body with herbs and spices as was the tradition because the Sabbath was quickly approaching. No work of any kind was done on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. This brings us to Holy Saturday of Holy Week, I call it ‘Silent Saturday.’ Silent, because nothing was going on since it was the Sabbath. Jesus’s wrapped body was lying in the tomb. The only mention in the Bible of any activity at all on this "day after Preparation Day" (Saturday) can be found in Matthew 27:62-66.

This is not the end of the story of Jesus. On the first day of the week, early in the morning a small band of women went to the tomb so they could properly prepare His body with herbs and spices as was the custom. To their shock and dismay when they arrived, the large stone was rolled away from the entrance of the tomb and His body was not there! God raised Jesus back to life, He was resurrected just as He said He would be. This is what Christianity is all about, we love and serve a risen, living Savior!

So why do I share all of this?

Holy week reminds me, for the most part, of the cruelty and harshness of the treatment to the promised Messiah, the Son of God, in one sense like the cold of winter in nature. But Easter is all about the mystery and victory of Jesus’s resurrection! It is the renewal of life coming from the darkness and cold of sin and death, to the light and warmth of our new lives in Christ through the sacrificial price He paid dying on the cross offering us – all of us the gift of eternal life!

One Scripture passage that has special meaning to me, and I hope blesses you as well, and what I have tried to convey in this article comes from Galatians 2:20. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

May you feel the warmth of God’s grace and mercy surrounding you, and enfold you in His loving arms!

Walkersville United Methodist Church is located at 22 Main Street, Walkersville. Our Sunday worship service is at 10 a.m., with Sunday School offered during that time. The worship service can also be viewed on our Facebook page, and YouTube. For more information about our church visit our website, walkersvilleumc.org.