tell the whole story.

It’s easy to talk about Easter when you’re a Christian. It’s kind of the whole point, ya know? Jesus dies on the cross, takes the sin of the world upon Himself, and rises from the grave three days later. He hangs out for a minute with His friends and disciples, then ascends to heaven with a promise to return.

That is the really, really simplified Easter story. It misses all the grit, grief, and guts of the story which starts in the Garden. It skips over the specificity of prophesy, the intricacies of the shedding of blood and holiness of sacrifice in Leviticus. But if you need to give an elevator pitch, it’ll do.

Here’s the thing about Jesus. He’s just way bigger than these little pleasant boxes we put Him in. I know, duh, but think about it. We tell the elaborate story on Easter, for one service, and maybe a few more times during the year. We give the elevator pitch the rest of the time. We spice it up in different ways, but it’s the elevator pitch and you know it. The well designed graphics and coordinated service schedule doesn’t change the depth and content of the story. If you’re Protestant, you most likely don’t even observe Holy Week.

If you’re sitting there saying, okay, but I don’t NEED to observe Holy Week. I don’t live by works, but by grace! I don’t have to be bound to the rituals of faith. You know - you’re so right. You don’t have to, at all. The glory of the cross and the rending of the temple veil means we are not depending on daily blood sacrifices to earn our sanctification. But somewhere along the line, we got it into our heads that rituals are bad. I understand why - we make it more about the rules than about Jesus. We rely on those rules and destroy ourselves with them. The rituals themselves are not the problem, our heart posture is. Rituals and consistent practices of faith (whatever that means for you) can just be a means to turn our hearts back to Him, every single day. Prayer. Meditation. Bible study. Observation of the sabbath. Lent, or just specifically using Holy Week as a time to reflect on the sacrifice of Christ.

The whole story of the cross matters. It starts in Genesis - really in chapter 1, but I like to go from chapter 3. It's the promise of a great nation being born to Abraham when he was way beyond the age to be a dad, and Sarah was way too old to bear babies. It’s in the rules and regulations of Leviticus. It’s in the inclusion of Ruth in the lineage of Christ through David, the foreshadowing of Gentiles being grafted into the covenant. It’s in Isaiah and Daniel and Hosea chasing Gomer. It’s in the angel appearing to Mary and telling her she would bear Immanuel even though she had never been with a man. It’s Jesus turning water into wine, doing miracles through Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, making those who held power hate and fear Him. It’s in His procession into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, hearing hallelujah and knowing that those same voices would only a few days later be shouting for His crucifixion. Tell the whole story when you talk about Him.

I understand that there are moments when it’s important to tell a condensed version. I understand that you can’t cover Genesis to Revelations on Sunday morning. But you can cover it over many Sundays, or many weeks of small group, or in your own personal time of study. My challenge to you this year is to study the whole story. He’s in all of it, and it matters that you know it.

But for today, I will sit quietly and remember my Jesus, who was humble and holy, savior and sacrificial lamb. His journey to Golgotha was wrought with grief and intense physical pain. He knew this was coming, He knew that He would be separated from God the Father and the Holy Spirit. He would also be putting those people who loved Him on earth through intense grief and trials of faith. There would be joy and redemption as the outcome, but the Jesus they knew and loved was going to give Himself up to die on a cross, naked and bloody. It had to be done, but duty doesn’t lessen the pain of the journey. When He gave up His life, I can only imagine how shaken they were, full of doubt (although Thomas was the only one bold enough to later voice those doubts).

But the grave can only hold the Savior for so long. What started as death on the cross culminated in life forever, free from sin, shame, grief, pain, and all the things that weigh on us here. This life is the briefest shadow of what is to come, resplendent in glory and being fully known by our Creator. I don’t know what heaven and eternity will look like, or what we will feel like, and I don’t spend a lot of energy on that. I know Jesus will be there. That’s enough for me.

If you have never walked through the story of the cross or just want to learn more, I’d love to talk about it. He is the kindest, gentlest, fiercest and truest love of my life. I have chased a lot of loves in my 28 years on earth, and His is the only consistent one I have known. He sees my flaws, my failures, my intentional sin, and picks me up and loves me still. If you let Him, He will do the same for you.

Happy Easter. Welcome to freedom.