Luke records that as he viewed the city of Jerusalem before him Jesus weeps for it in recognition of the judgement that will come within a generation. Jerusalem and the temple destroyed by the Romans and over a million people massacred. The sorrow and heaviness of heart we see in Jesus is in marked contrast with the celebrations around him. As the people hoped that this Messiah would bring liberation and the disciples hoped that he would finally throw off all pretence and rally the nation to his cause, Jesus wept for the city and steeled himself for the coming week. It was Sunday, but Friday was coming.
All across Australia people are getting ready for Easter. For many it's a cause to celebrate - a long weekend, time with family and friends, kids anticipating chocolate and treats, and for most people, barbecues, beer and relaxation. I'm under no illusion that Easter is seen as the holiday where we remember the death and resurrection of the Son of God any more than Christmas is really seen as the birth of Jesus. Ours is a secular society, but thankfully the vestiges of our Christian past are glimpsed in our post-Christian culture with holidays that carry the echoes of their original meaning. I don't mean 'thankfully' because I think there is value in hanging on to religious meaning or cultural overtones that were more cosmetic than genuine, but because, as a Christian, I am glad that whatever these holidays mean for my culture, they have significance for me, and I am afforded the time to appreciate it.
How about you?
As followers of Jesus how do we view Easter? I could, right now, easily jump on one of my personal band-wagons and rant about the importance of being in church - your own local church - on Sunday. I could reiterate my conviction about the importance of the body of Christ being seen in its local, visible, corporate expression on what is, arguably, the most important Sunday of the year. But I won't (oh wait, maybe I just did??)
What was going on that Easter long-weekend around 33AD? Obviously Jesus' plans and those of the disciples were very different. As they were getting ready for beer, barbecues and chocolate - and possibly the revealing of Messiah (!), Jesus was preparing for torture, death, and the greatest battle humanity has ever seen. So what was going on?
Can I say that if, as Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, we think Good Friday was about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and Sunday was about him rising from the dead so that we can also enjoy resurrection empowered life, we've totally missed the point. Both of these things are true, but only a part of the cosmic drama being enacted in Jerusalem.
In the story of Adam and Eve we see sin as the breaking of their covenant with God and spiritual death as their separation from their Creator; in the story of Israel we see their sin as the breaking of their covenant with God and exile as their separation from him; Jesus enacts, on the cross, the fulfilment of the covenant and the return from exile. As the perfect human being and the ideal Israelite, he does for the world and for Israel what we couldn't do for ourselves. Jesus becomes the sacrificial Passover lamb; he is faithful to the covenant; he gives ultimate meaning to every sacrifice and offering in the law; he suffers the righteous wrath and judgment of the Father; he endures and conquers all the violence and hate the powers unleash on him; he embodies the love that overcomes sin, death and satan; he wins the battle that sees him confirmed as king and Lord of the world; he completes return from exile, freedom from oppression, and the reconciliation of God to his people not only for Israel, but for all humanity. Jesus, on the cross, inaugurates the Messianic kingdom not only for Israel, but for the world.
The climax of history, the centre-point of the story of God and his creation, is a cross outside Jerusalem.
On Friday Jesus completes the work he became human to perform, and as he dies, proclaims, 'It is finished!' God has done his work, and as on the sixth day of creation determines it is very good. And on the seventh day, the Sabbath, he rests.
Sunday. The first day of the new week, the first day of the new age, Jesus rises from the dead. This Messiah, this Lord, this God-become-man, is vindicated and rises as the embodiment of the promise of justification and resurrection for all those who will place their faith in him. Jesus didn't die so that we could go to heaven with him for eternity. That was never a Jewish eschatology and certainly isn't a Christian one. Jesus died to not only bring redemption to an exiled human race, but to bring the promise of renewal and transformation to a creation that Romans tells us, '(has been) subjected to frustration...in the hope that creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.' (Rom. 8:20-21) Jesus gave his life so that, in this new Messianic age he inaugurated, all of creation begins its journey to the day when he will return, the kingdom will be revealed in all it transformative glory, and God will finally complete his work of putting all things right.
Through Friday's cross and Sunday's empty tomb Jesus accomplished and confirmed the kingdom promise of new heavens and new earth, lovingly and gloriously transformed and renewed by God. The Jewish hope of resurrection in God's kingdom is embodied as Jesus exits the tomb, and the Christian hope of his return is anticipated as we experience the reality of his kingdom through his Spirit and as the guarantee his resurrection manifests crashes upon our world. The battle is won, Jesus is Lord, the kingdom is here, and one day all things will be right.
The cross isn't about Jesus dying for our sins, it's about God completing his redemption story and putting right everything that went wrong. We may not see the culmination, the ultimate resolution yet, but as surely as Jesus rose on Sunday we will see it one day.
So rather than wishing you a happy Easter, I'd like to wish you a thoughtful one. One in which we all see that Good Friday and Easter Sunday aren't about barbecues and chocolate eggs, or about your relationship with God, but rather are far more comprehensive and far-reaching than that. And as we do, as we consider all that Jesus has done to bring the reality of God's redeeming, reconciling love to our world, consider also what that means in our lives. If this new kingdom age is seen and known through those who follow Jesus as Lord, what does it look like through my life....through yours.
You see, whatever else Easter may mean, it has to mean that life can never be the same for us. As the carriers of this good news and the representatives of God's new humanity Easter is a reminder that we are to be for our world what Jesus was for his: humble servants of the great redemptive purpose of God. So, ultimately, Easter isn't about what you do or where you are this weekend, but who you are - today, tomorrow, Friday, Sunday and every day of your life.
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