Nehemiah 8:2-18 Joy in the Lord

The Fruit of the Spirit shows us what a mature faith and life looks like, and joy is part of a mature faith. I love the image of fruit as something healthy and tasty and good for our health and this is what faith should be like too. Joy is healthy, tasty and necessary for us to cultivate in our life. Galatians 5 tells us that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” In order for us to become mature and healthy in our faith, we need to constantly pay attention to our soul and the state of the fruit in our soul.

Joy’s not really an emotion, it’s more an approach to life based on our relationship with God. The Bible connects joy and faith together, shaped by knowing what God has done for us and his commitment to us. We see this in Nehemiah's story of Israel's return to Judah after being gone 70 years. It hasn’t been easy; there’s opposition from the people in the land as they rebuild Jerusalem, the rebuilt temple is small and shabby, and there's sadness for how far they’ve fallen from the glory days of David and Solomon. The people are tired, they’ve been working hard with danger around them, but even their work doesn’t measure up to the dreams they had coming home. These past few weeks, I’ve heard of weariness all around me. This pandemic is weighing on everyone. In times of weariness, combined with loneliness, it’s difficult to feel joy.

It's near harvest-time and New Years, the same time of the year Israel first entered into the Promised Land hundreds of years earlier. That first year, Israel ate from the fruit of the land without doing the work. God provided for his people as they settled into the Promised Land. As part of the celebration, Ezra brings out the Book of the Law of Moses and reads it out loud to the people. While Ezra reads Scripture, the Levites teach the people, showing how the Law works in their lives. It's powerful. It’s also a reminder that if we’re not living the Bible out daily, it doesn’t mean a whole lot.

The people hear about the Feast of Booths when the people build booths to live in for a week to help them remember their time in the wilderness and how God protected, guided and provided for them for 40 years. It hits the people how much they've lost in their relationship with God. They’ve lost a sense of their history and the practices that point them back to God and who God has called them to be.

The peoples' reaction is sadness, not joy, but Nehemiah tells the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” I’ve heard some of you say, "We used to fill the sanctuary, we had so many families back then." There’s a longing in some of you for how things used to be, just like what the Israelites are feeling. Faith is a very emotional part of our lives; relationships are heart things, not head things, same for our relationship with God.

Nehemiah focuses them on the right now, on what God’s doing bringing them home. It's a new beginning, they’re getting back on track with God. God’s in control, even working in the king of Babylon's heart to allow Israel to rebuild their country again. This is a God thing! The time for weeping was back in Babylon. Now’s a time to look forward in hope because God is acting and inviting his people to join him. Our first worship service in our newly renovated church reminded us that God has plans for us and he calls us to join him in joyfully celebrating who he is and sharing this good news all around us.

Nehemiah says, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” It’s a time to feast, to celebrate God as God’s people. Everyone’s commanded to celebrate and to contribute to those who have nothing prepared or are poor; everyone celebrates together. Israel was punished with exile because they hadn’t cared for each other; the rich had taken advantage of the poor, the widow and the orphan. Everyone had been for themselves with little compassion or sense of responsibility for each other. God’s rebuilding a sense of community and responsibility among the Israelites; they’re all God's people together.

"Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Joy, one part of the fruit of the Spirit, isn’t always easy to experience or cultivate when life hasn't gone the way you’ve wanted or worked for. During times of deep sadness and distress, during times of loss or hurt or abuse, experiencing joy can seem impossible. But here God's people are reminded that joy’s important and rooted in knowing God and in being known by God, not by our circumstances in life. Joy comes from knowing that God saved them, provides for them, protects them, and chooses them as his people. Joy’s experienced in being God’s people together.

How can you experience joy, even if times are difficult? Nehemiah shows us it’s important to celebrate, even if we’re feeling sad, discouraged, or weary. The people are commanded to enjoy choice food and sweet drinks. Have you ever had a time when you were feeling sad or depressed and yet still were expected to attend a celebration? My mother died days before Christmas, yet I still participated in the Christmas Eve service at the Montreal Seafarer’s Centre and led the Christmas Day service at church. It wasn’t something I wanted to do, and yet, as we celebrated the gift of Jesus, I still experienced the joy of Christmas and the fellowship of seafarers and our church family. There was a strength that helped me go home and lead my mother’s funeral a few days later.

There’s something about coming together as fellow believers that blesses us in deep and unexpected ways. That’s the second point we see in this story. The people experience this all together: their joy grows as they remember and celebrate what God has done in the past, reassured that God is still with them and committed to them, even things look rough. Remembering in order to believe, remembering in order to know joy, is a key part of our faith. Joy is rooted in the hope we have in Jesus' death and resurrection from the grave. Through Jesus, our relationship to God is restored. Life can be hard; cancer, a cheating spouse, the death of a loved one, betrayal, abuse, pandemics and more, but Jesus promises to never leave us or abandon us. Grief and trials don’t last forever. "But I will still be glad because of what the LORD has done. God my Savior fills me with joy." Habakkuk 3:18. God is greater than any of your painful experiences. God uses those times to shape your character more deeply in Christ.

Hard times come and go. It's during those times that you discover how real your faith is and how much strength you receive from your faith through the Holy Spirit. I was surprised that at Mom’s funeral I could laugh at the memories that were shared. It happened with family and friends and Scripture reminding us that she’s with the Lord. There was joy because God was there and we knew the sorrow would soften. It never goes away completely, but God’s always with us. Looking back, there was joy, not happy, but joy through Jesus.

Generosity towards each other to make sure everyone can participate in the celebrations of our faith is a third way to grow joy. Nehemiah tells the people to send food and sweet drinks to those who unable to prepare. Randy Alcorn writes, “When we love God most, we will love others best.” Part of this is serving others, making sure they’re part of us. Alcorn says that part of the reward for generosity “is here and now, with the peace contentment, and joy we receive as we learn to be like God in our giving.” Joy in the Lord helps us to not just survive, but to thrive.

Looking for joy? Believe in Jesus and follow him with everything you are. Peter reminds us in his first letter, "you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls."  Joy is a way of approaching life with a focus on Jesus. "You always show me the path of life. You will fill me with joy when I am with you." Psalm 16:11. Israel’s joy comes in remembering what God has done for them and his commitment to them, today our joy is based on what Jesus has done for us and his commitment to us. The website, I Am Second, reminds us, “Choosing joy is a constant commitment you make when you follow Jesus. It's not always an easy choice, but you will find a joy that surpasses your circumstances by giving all your cares to Jesus. You can choose joy by trusting in the goodness of God.”

The Fruit of the Spirit: 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 Love

 

From now until after Pentecost, we will be reflecting on the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. It’s all about character and becoming more like Jesus. Paul begins his description of the Fruit of the Spirit with love. This feels so important today. We’re living in a time where there is much anger, bitterness, and frustration. Cyber bullying is real and something not only our youth and children face. This has led to a lot of hurtful words and actions, lots of lashing out, even in churches. There are a lot of hard conversations going on in society today: COVID, racism, economic systems, policing and more. The problem is that many of the conversations aren’t really conversations, but people entrenched in their own opinions talking past each other, and not always graciously. In John 13, Jesus told his disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Just a heads up, love can be really hard at times.

Tracy Earl Welliner reminds us that we know what love looks like, “it’s a mother holding her baby and rocking him to sleep when he’s sick and now a teenager, it’s a man who looks at his wife with more love after 25 years of marriage than on his wedding day, it’s a woman consoling her friend after a diagnosis of cancer.” Paul tells us that without love, much of what many Christians believe is important is meaningless. We don't gain anything by doing the right things or having the right beliefs if there’s no love. Jonathan Sacks reminds us that the Old Testament calls us to love our neighbours once, but calls us to love the stranger 36 times. The test of our love is to love those who are different, "The supreme religious challenge is to see God's image in one who is not in our image." It's easy to love those just like you, it's much harder to love those who have different values, who like different things, or who do things differently than you like.

Jesus calls us to love God with everything we have and are and to love our neighbour as ourselves. We know from Jesus what loving him looks like; in John 15 Jesus tells us, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love." Love commands action by those able to act. Love’s a response to others that shows grace, compassion and brings hope, healing, restoration, comfort, and peace. Love builds up, encourages, and even disciplines, because you desire what’s best for others. The greatest act of love is Jesus going to the cross to die for our sins and make us right with God. Paul describes love:

Love is patient. This is about not having an agenda in a relationship. Love means placing your expectations for what you want out of the relationship to the side to focus on the other person. So often love is self-centred, focused on how love makes you feel rather than on the other person. Patience means focusing on the other person’s needs before you concentrate on yourself. This may mean you have to wait for the benefits of the relationship for a while, maybe even a long while.

Love is kind. This is about being generous and considerate of others, wanting the best for them and helping them achieve it, even if it sometimes comes at the expense of achieving the best for yourself. Kindness, respect and grace go hand in hand. Kindness is having a certain attitude towards others, it's not an emotion. It's allowing the Holy Spirit to shape your soul, mind and heart so that kindness becomes part of who you are. Kindness will cost you time, probably money at times, and definitely heart space for others, but it builds relationships and trust.

Love does not envy. This means that you are genuinely happy for others and what they've achieved and have. Envy is about greed and a lack of trust in God, believing God is not giving you what you deserve. The cure for envy is found in your relationship with God and cultivating a spirit of contentment and trust in God.

Love does not boast. Love has no desire to make yourself look better than others. Love approaches others with humility, recognizing the gifts and talents God has given you, but knowing that they are to be used to build up the church and those God has placed in your lives. If you struggle with boasting, ask yourself “Why?” Is it because you feel that you don't measure up to others, or maybe you're jealous when others get the attention and you want approval or praise for yourself? Cultivate a spirit of contentment and trust in God, trusting that God has created you with the gifts and talents you need to become who God has created you to be, that he has a purpose and reason for placing you where you are.

Love does not dishonour others. Love recognizes that we’re all created in the image of God, that God loves all humanity. It's important that when we’re together, we build each other up and encourage each other. This is not about simply saying nice things to each other to make them feel good, it's about desiring that the other person continues to grow in their faith in God, in their hope and love, and in obedience to God. Honouring others means being honest in respectful, gentle, and sincere ways as we follow Jesus together.

Love is not self-seeking. Life’s not all about you! It's about following Jesus and living well in relationship with God and each other. You're not the center of the universe, God is. Love means that you work to bless others; not at what the relationship gives you, but at what you give to the relationship. It’s about sacrificial love for the other person. This is Jesus love.

Love is not easily angered. It's hard to love if your heart is ready to burst into flame at the slightest thought that you’re being slighted, ignored or disrespected. Fear will trigger anger. Today, some fear the virus, others fear loss of liberty and rights, others fear disunity. Anger makes it hard to be gracious and forgiving. Along with not being easily angered, love also keeps no record of wrongs. When you hold onto bitterness and anger, and the wrongs done to you, you have not forgiven and you reveal that you don't trust that God’s in control. Grace and forgiveness come from trusting God. Following Jesus is about working to be more like Jesus who, even while on the cross, forgave those who put him there. It's not easy. Love’s not always easy, but remember God loves you in spite of who you are and what you've done, and he forgives out of his grace to you. Anger and keeping records of wrong reveals a self-centered faith rather than a Jesus focused faith. In Romans 12, Paul writes, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”

Love rejoices with the truth. It's important to know who defines what truth is. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." When love rejoices in the truth, it rejoices in Jesus, in his work of salvation which has made us right with God and gives us eternal life with God, while living as Jesus taught. Love reminds us that Jesus calls us to tell the world of his love and make disciples for him.

Love protects; protects others whether it's their name, their feelings, or their stuff out of concern for them. You show your love for God by protecting his name from dishonour in how you live and in how you treat others. Love trusts. Trust is a choice and builds closeness and more trust, believing that God is your protector. Should someone break trust with you, God will work through your willingness to trust him, giving you the strength and ability to trust again. Trust comes because you believe God loves the other person and is working in them. Trust is shown in forgiveness and grace.

Love hopes; looks ahead with the goal of having good healthy relationships based in Jesus and the working of the Holy Spirit. Hope keeps us working for healthy Jesus centered relationships. Love perseveres, never giving up because God never gives up; it never fails because love’s not based on emotions, but is formed in your character as you follow Jesus. Love shapes us as a people of God; love needs someone else in order to be love. John Stott writes, “It needs the whole people of God to understand the whole love of God.” Love shapes our character as individuals and as a church.

Love reveals a maturity in the faith which is a sign of the Holy Spirit's work, shaping us into people and a church who are growing in the character of Jesus Christ. By being a people of love, we give the world a glimpse of the God of love.

Mark 16:1-8 Who Do You Say That Christ Is?

 

Christ is Risen, He is risen indeed! The grave is empty! We begin this day filled with joy and excitement, but that first Easter morning was a lot different. For Jesus’ followers and family, it began as a day filled with grief, uncertainty, and then fear. The way Mark ends his gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God leaves us a little confused and wondering, can the young man’s words in the tomb really be true? There’s the potential for room for a lot of doubt in how Mark ends his story.

Good Friday ended with Jesus in a tomb, his followers are hiding, and now, after having to leave Jesus’ body in the tomb over the Sabbath day, the women at the cross make their way to the tomb to clean Jesus’ body and anoint it with oils, creams and perfumes to honour this amazing man who has meant so much to them over the past three years. He had healed some of them, filled all of them with hope; encouraged and built them up, something most rabbis never even thought of doing for their female disciples. Now they’re filled with grief and shock. How could this have happened; how could anyone hate Jesus that much?

On the way to Jesus’ tomb, Mark adds a personal, and even humorous touch, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb?” As one commentary puts it, the women have thought of everything they need to honour Jesus’ body, carrying everything with them, but it’s just now as they approach the tomb that they remember, “Oh no, there’s a big stone we need to get past.” It’s big enough that even three women are unable to roll it aside since it sits in a trench. They’ll need to roll it uphill in order to get into the tomb. This worry just adds to all the other emotions that are flowing inside them as they come closer to the tomb.

Now imagine the women’s surprise when they get closer to the tomb and see that the stone has been rolled away from in front of the tomb. As they approach the dark entrance, they receive a second surprise. Inside Jesus’ tomb, there’s a young man dressed in a white robe sitting there and Jesus’ body is gone. The women are alarmed, to put it mildly. Mark uses a word that shows their alarm is combined with a sense of awe and amazement. If this young man rolled the stone aside by himself, there’s definitely something superhuman about him.

The young man speaks, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” The disciples, especially Peter, are told to go and meet Jesus in Galilee, a long way away from Jerusalem and the powers that be. Galilee is where Jesus was raised, as the young man reminds the women when he called Jesus “the Nazarene.” Jesus is heading back to a place where he can concentrate on being with his disciples and not worry about enemies and possible violence. In Galilee, Jesus can focus on connecting with his disciples, helping them to see and remember that everything that occurred needed to happen to reveal that he is the Son of God, Messiah, and king.

The women are silent, trembling and bewildered, yet there’s also awe and amazement. Can this be? Can Jesus really be alive, waiting for them to join him in Galilee? Can they trust this young man’s message, this angel’s message? The women are overwhelmed by everything that is happening. I remember back in Nova Scotia after great storms would sweep through the region and ships would be lost at sea. Family and community members would line the shores after the storms, hoping to see their loved one’s ship appear over the horizon and when a ship appeared, everyone would hold their breath until they could identify whose ship it was. When the ship was identified, the families of the crew would often sink to their news, weeping with joy that their loved ones were safe. I imagine the women feeling something like that here.

The women are silent. As they leave with a sense of fear mixed with the bewilderment, awe and amazement, there must have been so many questions. This is going to take faith to believe since they haven’t seen Jesus’ body. This echoes ahead to Thomas’ doubt after Jesus appears to all the other disciples except for him. It is difficult to believe. Jesus gets it. In John 20 we read, “A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

J. Warner Wallace wrote a book Cold-Case Christianity, where he applies his skills at understanding forensic evidence and comes to the conclusion that God, Jesus, and the resurrection is real. Lieutenant General William G. Boykin, Retired United States Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, writes “Today Americans are searching for truth. The most fundamental truth is the reality of a sovereign God. During his journey from agnosticism to apologetics, J. Warner Wallace uses his ‘cold case’ investigative techniques to prove the reality of the divine. READ his book. You will not regret it.”

The women face some challenges as they leave. This is going to take faith to believe since they haven’t seen Jesus. They’re going to have to take the young man’s word and go to Galilee to see Jesus. Mark ends with their silence, mentioning that they’re afraid. Are they afraid to have hope that Jesus is alive? Are they afraid to actually see Jesus? The last time they saw Jesus, they saw a dead body covered in blood, sweat, and grime after a horrible death. Are they maybe afraid that Jesus is actually waiting for them? Because if Jesus is waiting for them, he probably has plans for them. I remember one young lady I had talked to about profession of faith. I asked her why she was waiting and she said, “If I do Profession of Faith, then I’m admitting that Jesus is real and that he can put his claim on my life, my whole life.”

Jesus’ resurrection brings us back to our original question this Lent, “Who is Jesus?” Mark has been leading us to this moment, giving us everything we need to figure out the answer. He’s revealed who Jesus is through the experiences and confessions of the people around him. Mark has led us to the place where, when someone asks us, “Who is Jesus,” we’re able to say, Jesus is God’s Son, the Holy One of God, the son of Mary and a brother to his siblings, Jesus is the Messiah, the One who comes in the Name of the Lord, and the Son of God as seen through the eyes of a Roman soldier. We know, that because of the cross and empty grave, we are right with God again; washed clean and given new life in Jesus.

The young man in the tomb told the women, and the disciples, to go to Galilee to meet Jesus. Esau McCaulley writes, “The women did not go to the tomb looking for hope. They were searching for a place to grieve. They wanted to be left alone in despair. The terrifying prospect of Easter is that God called these women to return to the same world that crucified Jesus with a very dangerous gift: hope in the power of God, the unending reservoir of forgiveness and an abundance of love. It would make them seem like fools. Who could believe such a thing? Christians, at their best, are the fools who dare believe in God’s power to call dead things to life. ... As we leave the tombs of quarantine, a return to normal would be a disaster unless we recognize that we are going back to a world desperately in need of healing. For me, the source of that healing is an empty tomb in Jerusalem. ... "

As I reflect on these words, they echo forward to Jesus’ last command to the disciples to “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Easter is a reminder of the gospel news, that Jesus loves us to death and offers us new life and hope that our past doesn’t have to shape our future because Jesus has changed everything, destroying the power of Satan and sin in our lives through his resurrection. It’s a call to go meet Jesus and then go and share the good news of Easter!

Mark 15:33-41 The Son of God

 

It’s Good Friday, a day when creation holds its breath as it watches Jesus take a totally unexpected journey to the cross. We, with two thousand years standing between us and the first Good Friday, have lost the sense of shock and horror that Jesus’ early followers and disciples experienced that day. This is not supposed to happen to the Messiah, to the one so many people have placed their hopes on for freedom.

We turn again to our question this Lenten season: Who is Jesus? Jesus has just been accused of blasphemy by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious court; he’s been sentenced to death by the Roman court for claiming to be King of the Jews, for which he’s also beaten, ridiculed, and now hangs on a cross. The one Peter called the Messiah has been betrayed and abandoned by his followers in his time of need and has walked this last part of his life journey alone. Jesus has been tortured and whipped, his body is torn and covered in dirt and blood, his eyes puffy and blood-shot with pain, hands and feet pierced by nails.

As we look at Jesus as he hangs on the cross, wondering if maybe we were wrong about who he is, we’re reminded of what the prophet Isaiah wrote about the coming Messiah, Isaiah 52:13–53:9, “See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness—so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him… He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed… He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away.” According to Isaiah, Jesus is exactly who we should be expecting our Messiah to be.

At noon, after approximately three hours on the cross, “darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.” This is no normal darkness, it’s three hours long. Think of how alone Jesus must feel. The darkness works as a symbol of what sin does; it blocks out the light of the world in our hearts, it covers our whole life, infecting every part of our life with darkness. It gives us a feeling of what the brokenness of sin brings, the brokenness of relationships with God and others, the aloneness that sin brings as we try to hide our sin in darkness. Jesus enters this for us, drinking from the cup of wrath for our sakes, enduring for a time the unthinkable: separation from his Father and the Spirit: the essence of God broken for us so we don’t have to experience that separation from God ourselves, so we can experience life, full and abundant life.

As the darkness lifts, “And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).” This is the only time on Mark that Jesus does not call God “my Father” in Mark. Jesus cries out the words of Psalm 22:1, a cry of hurt, a recognition of where sin takes us, to a place of forsakenness.

Jesus cries out in a loud voice. This is a show of strength, showing us that Jesus has not been beaten by the physical suffering, by the emotional suffering, and that even now, though he calls God, God instead of Father, he is not a victim of either the Sanhedrin or of Pilate, but that he chooses to be there on the cross in our place. Jesus is not a victim but a conqueror. “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.” What an understated way to describe Jesus’ death, the death of the Messiah. At Jesus’ death, the curtain of the temple is torn in two from top to bottom. The Holy Spirit flows out into the world from out of the Holy of Holies. Satan has not seen clearly who Jesus is and now has assured his own defeat even as he celebrates Jesus’ death. Only Satan could snatch defeat out of victory!

Is this the end of Jesus’ story? The Holy Spirit is flowing into the world, Jesus has finished what he came for, his last cry, as we hear it in John’s Gospel is, “It is finished!” Even the Roman centurion realizes that Jesus is no ordinary person. At Jesus’ death, he confesses, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” It’s always strange to me that it’s the gentiles and ordinary people who recognize who Jesus is while the religious leaders, the teachers of the Jewish law, and those in power keep missing it.

The centurion has been there the entire time while Jesus was tortured, unjustly condemned to death, ridiculed in the courts and on the cross, but Jesus still responds with forgiveness and grace, even arranging for his mother to be taken care by placing her in John’s care. Jesus’ cry to God and how he dies reveals to this centurion who Jesus truly is, the Son of God! The true meaning of who Jesus is, is revealed for all to see. Jesus is the Messiah who dies, the Messiah who gives his life for the many, the one whose death brings life to the many.

But Jesus’ story is not over. Even though Satan thinks he has snuffed out the light of the world, Jesus’ death is not the end of the story, but the beginning of a whole new chapter. What happens next? We wait in anxious anticipation for Sunday!