Have You Considered?

This time of year one will see bunnies galore.
Plush bunnies to cuddle.
Chocolate bunnies to eat.
Bunnies that even cling to your windows for decoration.

Along with bunnies, one will see baby chicks.
Along with baby chicks, one will see little lambs.
This is the time of year where everything seems to be displayed in pastel colors.
The palette of pink, yellow, green, and light blue abounds.

I listened as a mother and grandmother said, no, to a persistent request for candy.
The Easter Bunny will bring you that! The grandmother said.
If you’re good, the mother added almost as an after thought.
That was enough to quiet the child, as he anticipated the candy he wanted in a basket.

In my heart, I was not condemning the mother and grandmother for their comments.
Each family has their own traditions.
What made me sad was the finality of their remarks.
What made me sad was that Easter means so much more.

It is appropriate that Easter is celebrated in the Spring.
Spring is the season of new life.
I remember years ago hearing a sermon that described Jesus’ death on the cross.
It was not that Jesus was buried as much as Jesus was planted, the pastor said.

I have never forgotten those words.
The picture is forever etched in my mind.
Jesus was planted.
The Seed was planted in the ground, for a time.

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (John 12:24)

The ground could not contain Him.
Death had no hold over Him.
Jesus is the First Fruit
From the planting of one Seed, many seeds will burst forth.

Two men walked on the road to Emmaus.
The Risen Lord Jesus walked along with them.
The two men did not recognize Him.
They began to explain their sorrow to this fellow traveler.

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning  but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.  Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.” He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:13-27)

A few words in this account make me sad.
We had hoped.
Past tense.
Things they hoped for, did not come to pass.

Or so they thought.

How many people still feel that way?
How many people say the same thing?
We had hoped ______.
God does not fulfill some need or desire, so they decide He is not who he says He is.

We had hoped.

The little lambs that are seen this time of year should point us to The Lamb.
The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
The Lamb that Abraham told his son, Isaac, God would provide.
The Lamb who was slain.

We had hoped is said when things do not make sense.
We had hoped is said when God does not live up to our expectations.
We had hoped is said when we do not know it is Jesus who stands before us.
We had hoped is said when our skepticism gets in the way of our faith.

The two men on the road to Emmaus would have remained in their hopelessness.
But Jesus intervened.
Jesus explained what the Scriptures say about Himself.
Using the Word of God, Jesus told the two travelers who He is.

Is your hope in the past tense?
Have you investigated God’s Word to understand who Jesus is and what He has done for you?
Have you considered Jesus, the Lamb who was slain for you?
Will this Easter mean more to you than bunnies, little chicks, and a pastel palette?

The color of Good Friday is red for the blood that Jesus shed on the cross.
The color of Holy Saturday is muted gray, as Jesus lays in the tomb.
The color of Easter Sunday is dazzling white, as light comes from the empty tomb.
Do you see it?

Have you considered Jesus?
Is your hope in the past or the present?
Do you stand before the empty tomb and wonder?
What happened?

The answer to that question is of eternal significance.
Your hope will continue to be in the past until Jesus intervenes.
Love always takes the initiative. (Alistair Begg)
Have you considered Jesus?