Happy Passover!… Happy Palm Sunday!… Solemn observance of Good Friday… Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Please meditate on the connection between all of these:

First– Jesus comes into Jerusalem, the national capital, as the humble King He is, to the cries of “Hosanna!” (meaning “Help! Save us!”) “Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!” Mark 11:9

These days many people are crying out for the same help and rescue.  Rescue from Covid.  Rescue from bad government that threatens to ruin the country.  Rescue from persecution.  Rescue from all kinds of maladies.  Help with basic needs, such as a job, a place to live, etc. 

Where is that all going to come from?  Better laws?  A vaccine?  A stimulus package?  Better economic policies?  Better education?

Those things can help, certainly, but we can’t depend on them.  With everyone’s human nature, selfishness is still going to keep things from working the way they should.  Persecution, poverty, immorality, etc., will still remain evident in society.

And with everyone’s human frailty, people will still get sick, regardless of the best the medical profession can do or offer.  The ultimate pandemic—our mortality—can never be erased.  As in, “We’ve all gotta go sometime!”

BUT—before you stop reading for fear of getting totally depressed, remember we have a solution.  We have a Rescuer!  That’s where “Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord” comes in!  Jesus, Whose name, Yeshua, means “Savior”, did and does that effective work of rescuing us from internal and external maladies.

Later– Jesus has what Christians know as the “Last Supper” with His disciples– the Passover “Seder” (commemoration). He demonstrates, through what is since known as “Communion”, that HE is both our sacrifice and deliverance from slavery– to sin and death– The Messianic fulfillment of Passover. (See Mark 14:12-25) 

“Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us.” 1 Cor. 5:7

As a Jewish-background believer, growing up, I always loved the holiday of Passover.  There was something about it that always gave me joy.  Later, I found out what that something was—all the Messianic symbolism in the Seder that pointed to Yeshua/Jesus! 

For example:  The three matzohs (unleavened bread) wrapped up in one cloth—then breaking the middle one—and hiding it—and letting children go find it—and taking it out again.  Can you guess what that means?  Yep—the Trinity, The Son, whose body was broken for us—buried, and resurrected on the third day! 🙂

Then we have the 4 cups of the Passover Seder:  1. Cup of Sanctification; 2. Cup of Deliverance; 3. Cup of Redemption; 4. Cup of Praise.  All fulfilled in Jesus.

There’s more, but you get the idea.

Then we solemnly observe Good Friday.  A day which many wonder why it’s called “good”.  After all, didn’t Jesus suffer a lot of pain dying on that Roman instrument of torture, the Cross?  I sure wondered that growing up—“Why do Christians call it good—all that sure doesn’t sound good to me!”

Not only was it physically excruciating, the worst part was, for the first and only time ever, being separated from the Father’s love. He cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?!” (Mat. 27:46).

Why indeed?  Because He was bearing all our sin!  WE should be the ones separated, but He did that so wouldn’t have to be!

But thankfully it didn’t end there.  He ROSE AGAIN so we have Resurrection Sunday— which means HE WINS!  Which means we (who are in Him) do too!   

It shows us Good Friday worked—which actually makes it great!

If He didn’t rise from the dead, He would’ve gone through all that pain and trouble for nothing, as it says in 1 Cor. 15:12-32.  But He overcame the pain by His Resurrection power, demonstrating He, the Lord, had kept His promise to come and free us from sin and separation from Him!

If He didn’t rise again, there would just be another dead prophet in the world, another body in a tomb.  But that tomb was only borrowed for a very short time—3 days—and been empty ever since! Mat. 28:1-10 holds true to this day — “He is risen, just as He said” (v.6)

BECAUSE THAT TOMB IS EMPTY, OUR HOPE IS FULL!

Meditate on that, and all its implications.  Celebrate! 🙂