Easter 2025

He is Risen! As we bring our Lenten devotional series “The Way it Had to Be” full circle to Easter on our church calendar, we now end up exactly where the two men’s story in Luke 24 begins: Resurrection Sunday.  For you and for me, we can see the necessity of the Cross, but “The Way it Had to Be” is something they had to learn along the Way.

Gospel writer Luke begins his retelling of this resurrection appearance with the two men walking home from the world’s strangest Passover. Their hopes were dashed, and their mood was still as dark as Good Friday. It began as a hopeless and confusing time…from dawn on Friday until Saturday’s nightfall.  

Now, here it is on their timeline and ours! Resurrection Sunday!!!  But they are depressed because there was a lot to process, they didn’t know if it was real, and they sure didn’t understand.

Where are you and I? Needing hope? Needing understanding of The Way it Had to Be? Are we rejoicing because we’ve seen the truth? We believe and are welcoming eternal life from a distance! Maybe we have doubts about how real it was. Or perhaps, we’ve grown too familiar with the Easter story, and it’s lost its magnificence in a world of turmoil.

In our story, the two men’s expectations about who God is (and who the Messiah should be) predisposed them to error. It resulted in their failing to see the Messiah in their midst, drawing them into conversation.  They had to be taught the necessity of the Cross.  That for God to do the larger work of eternal salvation, it required a bigger plan than just some earthly action of a political insurrection by a band of zealots.

Where are your hopes placed today?  A Savior or a political figure?  One who commands earthly power or One Who brings peace on an eternal basis?

Little political victories (like the one the Jewish people were awaiting as vindication), ah…they come and go—even today—but the world hasn’t changed. On the other hand, and this is astounding ….

The 30-year lifespan of Jesus,
His 3-year ministry
a matter of hours from very early morning Friday until 3 in the afternoon
culminating in His victory on the Cross…
known as His death…
and after being buried 3 days,
Jesus’ victory over the grave…changed the world…forever!

Do you know that it changed both life and death for you, forever?
Fear? Gone! Fear has to do with punishment, and He bore yours!
Death? Meaningless! He conquered it so you can, too!
Slave to sin?  Live free in Christ!  Free indeed!

If you don’t know it but you’d like to experience that freedom and victory in your life, too, it’s really easy.

This Prayer is for you: Lord Jesus, I want to know You and the sacrifice You made for me.  I want to be free from sin, from shame, from the eternal dying that people experience apart from You. Draw me near, Lord. Teach me like You did the men on the Road to Emmaus.  I praise You that You do not demand a blind faith but offer a reasoned one. You heal the blind, Lord! Show me who You are. I want to believe. I’m sorry for the ways I’ve lived that grieve You.  I’m sorry for the many times I’ve failed even when I’ve tried hard to be good. By Your mercy may I be forgiven for sins great and small. May I know Your freedom as one now released from slavery to sin. I’m sorry for the things I carry even though You have told me they’re already forgiven in You. Rise in my heart as You rose from the grave. Increase my faith so I may serve You as one who knows what it means to be forgiven! May I grow in love and in awe of You every day. For Your glory, Amen.