By John Sprecher
Easter Sunday is the highlight of the Christian calendar. No other religion can claim that its leader has been raised from the dead. Because Jesus is alive we have a message of hope to proclaim on Easter.
There are often many who will attend your church on Easter that are not normally a part of your congregation. Our Temptation is either to diminish the preaching of the Gospel or to be overly harsh on those who come only on this special day. Never lose the wonder of the fact that Easter is really the culmination of God’s Redemptive plan. On occasion I have found myself tempted to neglect the power and centrality of the story in an attempt to try to share something new, forgetting that some stories can never get old.
On Palm Sunday we celebrate the earthly coronation of a king. Had Jesus accepted their call to be a king, it would not have lasted longer than his earthly lifetime which undoubtedly would have been quickly cut short by the Romans. Jesus knew that the way for him to become the King of kings and for us to have the hope of eternal life was the cross. As Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him he gave us not only the hope of eternal life but now lives as our Eternal Savior.
As you preach on Easter never lose the perspective that it is only through death that we have real life. There is no Easter without Good Friday. We have no real life unless we have been willing to die to the old nature. The paradox of our faith is that we can’t take the shortcut of assuming we can stop at Palm Sunday and not go to the cross if we want to experience real life. The Apostle Paul says “I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives the in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Remember that those who are hearing the sound of your voice on Easter cannot just look for a Palm Sunday king but need to look to our resurrected King. Give hope as you share life and the expectation of a bright future in Christ. You have been given the words of life and literally stand between the living and the dead to proclaim them. Don’t be tempted to offer life now without the cross which gives us His life forevermore.
John Sprecher is the Lead Elder of the FCA USA.
