Ashes to Fire – Clinging to Jesus

We went on a walk yesterday, which was the day after Easter, and along the side of the road was an empty plastic egg.  The candy it  once held was long gone and the empty egg discarded.  The celebration, the large crowds in the pew, new Easter dresses and the bright splashes of pastels quickly fade away as well.  There’s a story in the Bible that tells how Mary in all her excitement of recognizing the risen Jesus was hugging him or touching him, to the point that Jesus told her to not cling to him.  Are we clinging to Jesus?  Will we hold on to the reality that Jesus really is alive and with us?  Earlier Mary was in a frenzy because she thought someone had taken her Jesus away.  She believed his body had been stolen, and now that she had found him, she was not going to let him go.  Are we clinging to the Resurrected Jesus?  Or could it be that all that is left are the trappings, the once a year remembering, the empty shell of Easter…if we cling to anything at all? 

What are you feeling and experiencing in the days after Easter?  What did you learn or experience that you can take with you in the days and weeks after Easter?

Ashes to Fire: A King, A Savior

Waving of palms!

Palm branches are raised and waved, and then the branches are laid to the ground to create a path worthy of reigning royalty.  Jesus rides in to cheers, applause, and shouts that He is a king.  The first clue that something is missing is that instead of riding in on a white stallion, He rides into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt.  It won’t be long until the scene turns to darkness and a lonely cross where instead of shouts of praise there are hurled insults; instead of waving of palm branches there are pounding of nails.  There is a crown!  But instead of gold and jewels there are thorns and torn flesh.  Jesus is our King for sure, but He is also our Savior.  Instead of sin there is forgiveness.   Instead of sorrow there is joy.  Instead of death there is life.  Instead of a grave there is Resurrection.  May you experience this King and Savior today.

Ashes to Fire – Resurrection Eliminates Smell of Death

You could see their fingers begin to pinch their noses as the stone was rolled to the side.  I am sure there were heads shaking in disbelief, and yet there was enough curiosity that people waited around to see what happened.  We don’t know exactly how much time there was for the smell to waft through the crowd, but enough time for Jesus to talk to his father and the smell of death to get around.  Scanning those gathered you would have seen people give that startled jerk when Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”   Their eyes got big, and jaws would have dropped when they saw movement inside the opening of the tomb.  There probably was an audible gasp as Lazarus emerged, and strangely the smell of death was no longer around.  Lazarus was alive!  Resurrection power won out over death, as it would again 3 days after Christ’s death on the cross.  (see John 11)

I wonder how many people missed this miracle of resurrection power because they did not want to experience the smell of death?  How many thought that Jesus was crazy for wanting to open up the tomb?   It is important for us to remember that resurrection only takes place where there is death.  If we want to see resurrection power we will have to go to those places where the smell of death hangs around.  The kind of death caused by sin, injustice, bitterness, unforgiveness, violence and all the other stuff we plug our noses to.  Go into the neighborhoods and hang out with people who are experiencing death because of those things, and it will be there we will hear the shout of Jesus.  We will hear him because that is where He is…right where the smell of death is, because He is The Resurrection that eliminates the smell and death itself.