In a few days we are celebrating Easter. When you read through the gospels and the days leading up to Easter you see so much pain, betrayal and hurt. Everything seems to go down and no hope is left. The disciples followed Jesus for many years and now one of their own betrays him. Judas, even after hearing and seeing Jesus do miracles for many years chooses money over his friend and sells him to the ones who want to kill him. The rest of the disciples lose all hope and perspective for life after Jesus is arrested. I can’t imagine how that felt. For many years their lives main focus was Jesus. All they did was follow him and let him lead to whatever needs to be done. But now it is over. They are lucky that people don’t go after them as well and want to kill them too. When Pilate then gives the crowd the choice to free Jesus or a criminal prisoner hope comes back to the disciples. He must free him they think. The crowd would never choose the criminal above Jesus. But a moment later all hope is gone, the crowd chooses the criminal and asks for Jesus to be killed. A short time after they see him one last time at the cross before he would die. All the words are forgotten that Jesus told them that he would come back, that the reason he came is to be a sacrifice so we can all be reconciled with God. In the time of sadness, all memory of those words vanished. Sad and depressed all of them leave.
If the story would end here, we would have a very sad ending. It would mean Jesus didn’t fulfill what he came for. It would mean that the enemy wins and that all hope is gone. Last week I talked about that if the vision didn’t become reality it’s not the end yet. And that is the good news about Easter!! It doesn’t end at the cross!!
A few days later a big gravestone is rolled away. The first ones that come to the grave think that somebody stole the body of Jesus. They still didn’t believe the words he said. But then Jesus shows up and everything changes. Over time all his disciples and friends see him again. All of them realize that the words he said before became a reality. He overcame death and made a way back to the father. Darkness lost its power. Jesus is victorious. Out of that victory, the disciples found hope again and shared the good news about Jesus with the whole world. The good news that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. A story that started so dark and sad ends with the greatest victory. A victory that is as true today as it was yesterday and as it will be tomorrow. Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life!
Like the disciples brought it into the whole world let us bring it across the street to our neighbors and all the other people God placed in your life! Let us not keep this message of hope away from a world that desperately needs hope, a hope not for a moment, but a hope that will never go away. Remember in this Easter time how loved you are by Father God!!
Hey our friend
I love this time before Easter when we have the opportunity to think about the greatest, selfless man who ever walked the earth. It’s a time to reflect on how loved we are! We want to encourage you to think about this week! We had many events this week leading up to Easter with our church as well as in our neighborhood. It was wonderful. Pray with us for people in our surroundings to have this week an encounter with Jesus and his love for them.
We want to wish you a blessed and happy Easter!! Remember how loved you are!!
God bless you
Markus and Jen
This message was inspired from our time in Korea!! Enjoy!!
What a perfect verse was chosen in the German church as the verse for the year 2019. Seeking peace and also pursuing it is so focused on an action of each one of us. A little while ago we heard a speaker share about how he seeks peace between Israeli and Palestinians and how much breakthrough he has seen over the years. But it took an action on his side to bring people together and to keep pursuing peace between them. He didn’t start through politics or a big media engagement, no he just brought youth from both sides together to meet and start understanding each other. Did it bring total peace for everyone yet? No but the people he brought together understand each other now and are connected through a friendship and started to reconcile.
This week we have a video blog from the countryside in PA about our favorite Topic loving your neighbor. Enjoy!!