Lessons Learned From The Easter Story
Scriptures: Matt. 21:8-9; Matt. 26:14-16; Luke 22:42-44; 47-51; Luke 23:12
Introduction
What does the celebration of Easter mean to you? Is it about the Easter eggs hunt for the kids? Is it about the new clothes that we go out and purchase just for that special Sunday? When you think about Easter, what comes to your mind? When I was growing up, we had sunrise services every Easter. We had to be at Church by 6 a.m. We would have an Easter program and after Church we would have an Easter egg hunt and breakfast. By 9:30 in the morning, we would be back at home taking a nap. In my early memories of Easter, I understood what it was about, but my memories consists of the sunrise services, the Easter program, egg hunt and breakfast. I do not remember any sermons that were preached on Easter. It was not until I got older that I fully understood what Easter was about – I mean besides the knowledge that Christ rose from the dead giving us the right to be adopted as children of God.
In this message this morning and next Sunday, I want to take you on a short journey of the lessons I have learned from the Easter story. I will point to several things that happened during Christ last week that I did not understand as a child or teenager, but came to know as an adult. This knowledge that I gained opened my eyes not only to why Christ’s resurrection is so very important, but also lessons that I needed to remember today as a Christian. So let me start with the beginning, Jesus arriving in Jerusalem.
I. Jesus Arriving In Jerusalem
In the book of Matthew, the 21st chapter, we find Jesus coming into Jerusalem riding on the back of a donkey. Matthew 21:8-9 records this:
“A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cur branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that we ahead of Him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
This crowd, many of whom were disciples of Jesus, escorted Him into the city crying out His praise. They were coming into the city triumphant, victorious, shouting to all who could hear that the Savior had come. Yet a few days later, this same crowd and many of His disciples would desert Him. People in the crowd who were not His disciples yet had joined in the praise of Him when He entered Jerusalem would be the same people who a few days later would cry out to kill Him. One minute they were supporting Him, the next, they were ready to kill Him. Lesson learned: Don’t let the praise remove your focus off God and what He has called you to do. Not everyone who sings your praise during the good times will be with you when the times get tough. Always focus your attention on doing what God has called you to do regardless of the praise. People can change based on the moment and what is happening around them. They may love you one moment and hate you the next. If you try to keep the praise of people, you will never reach your objective. Seek only the praise of your Heavenly Father instead. When Jesus saw Jerusalem, He began to cry because He knew what would shortly take place – He remained focused on His ministry.
II. Christ Friend Betrays Him
Matthew 26:14-16 records the following:
“Then one of the Twelve – the one called Judas Iscariot – went to the chief priests and asked, ‘What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?’ So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand Him over.”
Judas walked with Christ, ate with Christ, laughed and cried with Christ. Judas was Christ friend, yet he betrayed Him. I have always wondered how he could have chosen to do that. Betrayal is something that has happened to people since the beginning of time and it hurts as much today as it did back then. Judas betrayal was so bad that even today when people are betrayed they call the person “Judas”. Let’s review Judas’ history in order to gain an understanding of who he was and why he possibly did what he did. In John chapter 12, Mary had purchased some expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus feet. Judas did not like this and objected stating it could have been sold and the money given to the poor, not because he cared about the poor, but because he cared about the money and he was a thief. Judas had been stealing from the money bag, the ministry funds, from the beginning. When Jesus told him to leave Mary alone, many believed that he was so offended that Satan used his offense to take control of him and influenced him to betray Jesus. What we do know is that shortly after this incident, Judas betrayed Jesus. He sold him out for thirty pieces of silver. Through this incident, I learned two lessons. Lesson One: Be very careful when offenses come because when we are offended, Satan will attempt to use us for his will. We must be very careful when we are offended that we do not yield to Satan devices. Lesson Two: God is willing to forgive and to use us even in our worst state. John records that Judas was a thief and was stealing from the money bag. Jesus knew this, yet He did not put Judas out of the ministry. Judas performed miracles with the other disciples being used of the Holy Spirit, yet he was still a thief. Jesus allowed Judas to remain a part of the ministry, even with his flawed personality, in what I believe was an effort to truly save Judas. All Judas had to do was repent, get over the offense and all would have been fine, yet he chose another route. Even those who are not “perfect” can be used of God so we need to be careful of the judgment we hand out to people.
II. The Garden Of Gethsemane
Shortly before Jesus was arrested, He went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. Luke 22:42-44 records these words:
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him. And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”
After Jesus served communion to His disciples in the upper room, He went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. Knowing what was shortly going to happen to Him, He felt the need to spend some time in prayer in order to have the strength to deal with what He would be facing. Although He took three of His disciples with Him, they were too tired to pray and slept instead. The mental and spiritual battle that Jesus was experiencing that night was very intense, to the point that His sweat contained blood. It has been medically documented that when the body is under intense stress that the actual pores in the skin will expand and leak blood along with the body’s sweat. This condition is called hematidrosis. This is what happened to Jesus. Knowing what was before Him, He asked God to remove it. In His request He also stated that He was willing to do God’s will. During this time, when He needed support (which He was not receiving from His disciples) an angel appeared to Him to strengthen Him. Supernatural help in a time of need. When Jesus disciples and friends could not be counted on for support, God sent an angel to strengthen Jesus, renewing His strength. Lesson Learned: Although there will be times when I answer the call of God to do something that I really do not want to do and I may be alone in doing it, God always has supernatural help for me. Sometimes, although with the best of intentions, those closest to us cannot walk with us in what God is telling us to do. Although we may feel as if we are walking alone, we are not – God will always provide the help and strength just when we need it the most.
IV. Jesus’ Arrest
When Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, there are a couple of lessons that I learned. Luke 22:47-51 records the following incident:
“While He was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss Him, but Jesus asked him, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of man with a kiss?’ When Jesus followers saw what was going to happen, they said, ‘Lord should we strike with our swords?’ And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, ‘No more of this!’ And He touched the man’s ear and healed him.”
Lesson One: Not everyone that kisses you is your friend or has your best interest at heart. Enough said.
Lesson Two: When attacked, it is very easy to forget that we are Christians. When they came to take Jesus, one of the disciples asked if they should strike with their swords. Immediately one of them did – some say it was Peter – and cut off the chief priest’s servant’s ear. When we come under attack, our disposition should be one as Jesus had, one of peace, forgiveness and love. His disciples forgot that in that moment and were probably surprised at Jesus reaction when He healed the servant. We should never forget, especially in the most stressful and painful times, whose we are and what our responsibilities are in Christ.
V. Peter Disowns Jesus
Luke 22:31-32 records the following conversation between Jesus and Peter:
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail, and you when once you have turned again, strengthen your brethren.”
Remember what I told you earlier about how friends can let you down? Well here is another lesson that I learned from Peter’s denial of Christ. You know the story; Jesus had told Peter that Satan wanted to sift him like wheat, which is what Satan did. When Peter was warming himself in the courtyard, someone recognized him as a servant of Christ. Peter denied this three times before the cock crowed. The last time he denied knowing Christ he actually cursed the people in his denial. What was so interesting is that Jesus told Peter he would do this when Peter was bragging about what he was willing to do for Jesus. I learned several lessons from this story but I will only share two. Lesson One: Fear can cause you to do the unthinkable. Fear can make us do things we never though possible if we do not get it under control. Peter was in Jesus inner circle yet he denied Him because he was scared for his life. Lesson Two: When you do the unthinkable, God is still ready to forgive you. Unlike us, when we do the unthinkable, God is still ready to forgive us. Jesus forgave Peter before Peter ever denied Him. He told Peter once he had recovered, to strengthen his brothers. Do not give in to your fear, but know that forgiveness is available.
VI. Pilate and Herod Become Friends
Luke 23:12 says “That day Herod and Pilate became friends – before this they had been enemies.” When Jesus stood before Pilate, Pilate wanted nothing to do with Jesus for he could find nothing that Jesus had done wrong. So Pilate when he found out that Jesus was actually under Herod’s jurisdiction sent Him to Herod. This made Herod happy because he had heard a lot about Jesus and had wanted to meet Him hoping that Jesus would perform some miracle. When Jesus did not perform for Herod, Herod and his soldiers ridiculed Him and sent Him back to Pilate. This interaction between Pilate and Herod made these two enemies friends. Lesson Learned: Given the right circumstances, your enemies, although they may not like each other, will join forces as friends against you. When thinking about this lesson, I remember the sayings from the Morton Salt commercials “When it rains it pours.” When your enemies join bands against you, it can seem overwhelming, but again, you are not alone.
When you think about what has been covered to this point, it does not take you long to realize that our relationship with friends and acquaintances are fragile; they can come and go. When we look at the first set of lessons learned, we find that people do different things when under stressed, when scared or when they just do not have your best interest at heart. As we seen so far with Jesus in His last week, although it appears that He was alone, He was not. He never wavered, He never changed course and stayed focused. I know that today is Easter and we are celebrating His resurrection today, but next week I will complete this message by covering the lessons I learned from the remaining days of Jesus’ last week on earth. I hope you will join me next week for the rest of the message. God Bless.
