It never fails. Having read the Passion passages countless times and having preached seemingly every conceivable angle of the Easter Story each year these last twenty years, it never fails… God shows me something new. I’ve devoted these last couple weeks in the pulpit to the ugly side of Easter – the betrayal, the blood. A few days ago I spoke on the forsaking of Christ and how its happening again today in the America church.
Rather than just jump right to the verse from the cross where Jesus cries out – My God, my God, why have you forsaken me – I pointed out how the forsaking actually started earlier that week. In the Garden after Judas betrayed him we read “all the disciples deserted him and fled.” Then Peter disowned Jesus. But there is a key moment even before these key moments.
Right after Jesus foretells that Peter will betray him three times, Jesus is in the garden crying out in agony to God asking for this cup of suffering to pass. He returns and finds his disciples sleeping. The Bible tells us this happened
three times. Three times!? Hmm. Here’s the part I hadn’t seen before: “Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter.” HE ASKED PETER?!?!
Do you see it? Before Peter ever forsook Jesus publicly, he forsook Jesus privately in the place of prayer. In the end times, the Bible says, many will turn away from Christ. I’m convinced prayer meeting attendance is a better indicator of the victory or defeat of the American Church, not anything else. Once we forsake Him privately in the place of prayer, it’s only a matter of time before we do it for all to see.
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March 22, 2008 at 12:56 pm
William
I just read this story about a “Christian” publisher that has even written the cruxifiction completely out of Easter! What is the state of the Christian Church in America when the foundation of your faith is too scary to discuss?
Is Easter Too Scary for Preschoolers?
http://merecomments.typepad.com/merecomments/2008/03/is-easter-too-s.html
As Mark Steyn writes: “Keep the Christ in Christmas… [Mark Steyn]
…but take Him out of Easter:
The pastors at this church in Raleigh, North Carolina, were perplexed when they saw the Holy Week Sunday school lessons for preschoolers from “First Look,” the publisher of the one to five year-old Sunday school class materials. There wasn’t a mention of the resurrection of Jesus. Naturally, the pastors inquired about the oversight. It turns out it was no oversight…
“Easter is a special time in churches,” the letter from the publisher says. “It’s a time of celebration and thankfulness. But because of the graphic nature of the Easter story and the crucifixion specifically, we need to be careful as we choose what we tell preschoolers about Easter.”
So now the story ends with the Last Supper – and presumably afterwards Jesus and His friends watch Elmo and then go to bed. That the foundational event of your faith is now excessively “disturbing” is almost too parodic a reductio of the Wimp Christianity of the mainline churches.”