On The Day After Easter

Today is a new day. You can make it the beginning of a new you. How a sponge soaked in vinegar offers the clue to a misunderstood kindness.

Message From a Cross

In the year AD 33, a man was put to death in a way that expresses the full cruelty of Imperial Rome. Beaten. Crucified. On full display, after being forced to carry the weight of the tools of his annihilation to the site of his ultimate demise.

Whether or not you consider the events of Jesus’s death to be holy to you or not, there is a powerful lesson in them. A man went bravely to his death. His last words say it all, “Forgive them father, for they know not what they do.”

He died willingly, believing he would absolve mankind for its sins.

And then, from this loss, he lived again. Because he lives, he offers new life, eternal life.

The Day After

Take this day, the day after Easter, as a moment to reflect on the beauty of new beginnings. Especially as we begin to see light at the end of the long dark tunnel that has been our collective journey through the COVID pandemic and now the heartache of Ukraine.

No matter what has happened, no matter what you’ve done, or left undone, none of us are beyond redemption.

Even in the brutality of Jesus’ execution there is evidence of this.

Act Today

Well known is the story of the Roman soldier, who as Jesus was dying on the cross, offered him a sponge soaked in vinegar. This has been taken as an example of cruelty—in fact, it is the opposite. The Roman legions drank vinegar wine to reduce their thirst. This was an act of mercy, quite possibly at great risk to the soldier.

There is good in all of us. There is hope for all of us. As dark as the last two years have been, the future can be brighter.

Let today mark a moment of rebirth. Of rejuvenation. Of re-emergence.

Tell yourself that you’re not going to wait any longer to demand the best of yourself. Don’t choose to be better tomorrow.

Choose today.

A New Day A New Life

It is a new day, and it can be the beginning of a new you.

“Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not ‘mine,’ but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.” Galatians 2:20, the Message

The Christian faith is a resurrection faith, rooted in an eternal reality. Not even death itself can prevail against the sovereignty and love of the Creator God.

In rebirth, we change.

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