Easter - In these times

We’re living in perilous times – a virus is killing thousands of people on the earth.  Few of us are immune to its poison.  The people of the world are fearful.  They fear the disease.  They fear death.  They fear loss of savings, of income, of going without what they see as necessities.  Many are isolated, alone in this world full of people.

People want to be assured that all will be well.  They want someone to “fix it!”  We turn to family, to friends, to the government.  But the world has no “magic bullet” to kill this plague.  So where do we go?

In times like these we know that life’s uncertain.

Control we thought we had, has left our grasp.

In times like these we find our strength has failed us.

In times like these we look for something that will last

What better time to look upon our Savior 

as anxiousness and fear would take its toll?

What better time to ponder  

all HE did

to end the curse of sin 

and break the chains of death and make us whole?

While on the cross with holy body broken

our Jesus heard the mocking crowd.

He heard the guards laugh out in cold derision.  

Bur From that cross 

He loved

the haughty and the proud.

Jesus planned to suffer, die, and free us from our lost condition.

He planned, 

with love, 

to pay the price of sin. 

He planned a life, eternal, perfect, joined with Him in heaven.

He died that all who come to God are welcomed in.

So, in these times of peril let us look upon our Savior.

Let’s look to Him, the one who can control

the world He made. 

and what we fear. - the pain and loss 

He will control with love -

the perfect love that sent him to the cross. 

He took the fear of death. 

He took uncertainty.

He took our want and loss,

and gave eternity.

Luke 23:33 – 49 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” . . . 

“The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 3and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” . . . 

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon,  for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.  But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

They saw, but did they really see the meaning of it all?  Did they see the love flowing from that rugged cross?  I pray that in these times we’ll be assured by the picture of God loving us so much that He gave His own life for ours.

Dear friends, 

With all that’s going on in our world these days, particularly with the Virus, we hear that we should maintain our distance from others to prevent its spread. That is good and wise advice to follow for the most part in this situation, but separation hurts.  Some of us - particularly those who live alone, hunger for the touch, the nearness and support of our loved ones.  

Today, I’d like to ask us all to think of that word - separation - in terms of the separation that Christ must have felt when He bore our sins on the cross.  Do you think He felt the loneliness we do when we lose that closeness with the ones we love the most? 

Here’s a poem that may help us to look at what God (The Father and the Son) suffered for us on that day. 

Separation 

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” 

The cry was heard from Calvary's tree. 

And as the cry rang out from Calvary's knoll, 

it was heard in heaven  

and broke the heart 

of the one that loved that pain wracked soul. 

When that cry rang out, oh the pain it brought 

to the Father who loved the Son he begot. 

But He could have stopped it. 

He could have released  

His Son from the suffering, 

– the pain could have ceased.  

He could have held that soul in His arms 

protecting Him from this terrible harm. 

It could have been that Christ felt Him there 

easing the burden, the sins he would bear. 

But the answer was "no" –  

release wouldn't pay, the price was still due - 

the price for salvation for me and for you. 

The only price that could save the lost  

was the separation of God on the cross 

from God in His heaven - the Father and Son 

to be torn from each other - a tearing of one. 

That day on the earth, the darkness that reigned, 

came not from the soldiers, came not from the pain. 

It came from God's heart tearing in two 

hurting much more than any could do. 

Loving so much, that it broke His own heart, 

The Son on the cross and the Father apart. 

Separation, 

The price that was due 

as God hung on the cross 

paying ransom for you. 

Diane Gruchow 

Revised Feb 2020 

The Trial - Easter

Dear Friends, this poem may be a bit unsettling to some of us, but I believe with all my heart that when we ignore or deny our Savior, we're no different than the ones that shouted "CRUCIFY!"  

But always remember that He died for each one of them, and Jesus died that we all might be forgiven, even for something like this.

            "What will you have me do with Jesus?" Pontius Pilot asked that day.

"What will you have me do with him?

I find no earthly fault in him.

What would you have me do with Jesus?"

The crowd cried out.

What words they shout.

They wanted blood.

CRUCIFY!

         

 As he washed his hands before the crowd.. Pilot gave an apt reply,  

I wash my hands of this man’s blood.  

I’ll not shed his innocent blood.  

It’s up to you to see him die.  

The crowd cried out.  

What hate they shout.  

They wanted death.  

CRUCIFY!  

And in the courtyard

          "Are you not a friend of Jesus?" the woman at the fire cried.

“Haven't you taught and worked with him?

And in the garden before you ran,     

I saw you as you walking by His side.”  

The man cried out

They heard him shout

"I know him not"?

CRUCIFY!  

   What will you do today with Jesus as now along life's road you trod?

Will you wash your hands of him?

Will you deny your love for him?

Will you ignore the Son of God?  

If we love Him not

If we serve Him not

If we deny His name

CRUCIFY!

The Road to Calvary

I wonder if Jesus were to think about that awful night when he was to die for the sins of all men, would He have had these memories?  Would these thoughts have run through His mind?

The night that Satan thought he had me, the night he planned his victory,

the night his servant Judas kissed me, began my walk to Calvary.

The rough arms came, reached out, and seized me.

My dear friend drew his sword to fight.

“Put back your sword”, I said to Peter,

“it has to be this way tonight."

"Oh, don't you think I could withstand them without your help if I should try.

Oh, don't you know ten thousand angels would be at hand with just a cry?”

And then I asked of those who seized me,

“Why did you come with clubs and swords

while every day I sat among you

teaching in the temple courts?"

"On those days did you arrest me? 

No, now you come in evening’s hour. 

For Satan's way is always darkness

and you -  by hating, give him power"

"Oh, don't you think I could withstand you at any time if I should try.

Oh, don't you know ten thousand angels would be at hand with just a cry."

"But lead me on the way to Calvary.

We'll take the road together now.

I'll walk along - no need to drag me

for I won't use my heavenly power."

"Oh, I could call ten thousand angels

if I wanted to be free.

But my love for you will keep me silent, until I die upon that tree."

"My love for you is what will hold me 

on that cursed redemption tree."

Diane Gruchow