Entering the Easter Story
Jesus doesn’t conquer our problems.
On Ash Wednesday, we explored how Jesus doesn’t conquer our problems. There are so many prayers that go unanswered, so many desires we have that go unfulfilled, and being honest with Jesus about the broken places in life is a difficult invitation for us to respond to. So we worshipped in the hospital (pre-Covid) and talked about how, for many of us, our deepest wounds and our deepest unanswered prayers will likely involve this hospital. Grief + hope = lament. And Americans usually aren’t very good at lament; we usually pick either grief or hope, so we practiced blending those two things together. We want Jesus to answer our prayers, and sometimes he doesn’t.
Jesus doesn’t conquer us.
On March 8th (we always meet the second Sunday of the month), we explored how Jesus doesn’t conquer us. Just as magnetic north draws a compass needle to itself, so Jesus draws us into a deep love with himself. I’m grateful we don’t worship a God that fixes us, or forces us, or conquers us, or makes us do something! Yet it does mean there’s a lot of broken places in life, and so we explored ways that we keep Jesus at magnetic north in our lives, rather than being pulled by the magnets that surround us. We want Jesus to fix us, and sometimes he doesn’t.
A list generated by folks at Spring Church during our interactive worship service to identify how Jesus is kept as North both individually and as a worshipping community.
Jesus doesn't conquer our enemies.
Palm Sunday was last week, when we remember that Jesus doesn't conquer our enemies. In Jesus’ time, when a king went out to battle and conquered his kingdom’s enemies, he was greeted with palm fronds by his grateful citizens upon his return. The ancient Jews were so certain that Jesus had entered Jerusalem in order to kill the Romans and give them their land back, they were waving palm branches and yelling “Hosanna” which literally means “Save us now!” And instead of killing the Romans, Jesus was arrested by them, proving (in their minds) that he wasn’t going to do what they wanted him to. All of us, eventually, have a hard time with Jesus not conquering the things we think are our enemies. We want Jesus to give us what we want the most, and sometimes he doesn’t.
Jesus DOES conquer sin and death.
The season of Lent is an annual reminder of all the things Jesus doesn’t do, and I need it every year, because every year I lose sight of how Jesus doesn’t conquer my problems, or me, or the things I think are my enemy. And we have Easter to remind us of what Jesus does do. We can rest in the arms of the one who loves us and keeps us.