The Narrow Roads

Often times when we think of Easter, we think of warm weather, beautiful flowers, going to church on Sunday, Easter egg hunts, and family dinners. Jesus tends to be put in the back of our minds. We know what Jesus did and we are happy to celebrate it, but after church is over, we are all about the celebration of other things. I am not saying anything is wrong with celebrating with our family, having Easter egg hunts or eating traditional Easter meals with our loved ones. I have this mindset myself and that’s why I feel compelled to share with you what’s on my heart this Easter. God has put some thing on my heart that I want to share with you and I pray these thoughts will touch your heart as well.

I attend an Assembly of God church now, but I grew up Catholic. I don’t like to attach myself to a religion, because religion isn’t what Jesus is all about. I do, however love what the Catholic faith taught me about Christmas and Easter growing up. Easter is and always has been my favorite holiday. In the Catholic church, the week between Palm Sunday and the Saturday before Easter is Holy Week. It truly is a Holy Week in the Catholic church. My parents didn’t just raise me Catholic, but they raised me in the Catholic church. By that I mean, I was in church several days a week and we actively participated in things of the church. Holy Week was and is different than any other time of the year. We were in church Thursday, Friday and Saturday reading about the life and death of Jesus in play form. Several people would have a part to read as we followed along in our pews. We would remember the sacrifice of Jesus and I would follow along word for word as it was being read. Some would say that’s tradition and you lose the meaning of it because it’s done every year. Maybe for some, but not for me. This Easter I just want to get back to making Easter about Jesus and my roots taught me just that.

Good Friday was the most compelling day for me of all the masses during Holy Week. It wasn’t a traditional mass and that mass brought me to tears every year. It was the mass that dug so deep in my heart that I would be overwhelmed with emotion, even as a very young girl. We would walk up in single file like we did for communion and kiss the feet of Jesus on the cross. While we kissed his feet, the song “Were You There, When They Crucified My Lord” would play. As I am writing this, I have this song playing on my phone and it still makes me cry. I know I didn’t fully understand as a little girl what Jesus did for me, but I do believe God was speaking to me and revealing to me what Jesus did on the cross. God tugged at my heart as a little girl every Christmas eve mass and every Good Friday mass. The memory of these two masses still bring me to tears. You see, Holy Week isn’t about religion, it was about Jesus.

I have been reading the gospels the last couple of months. God has shown me so much that I haven’t seen before. Yesterday as I was reading, I was thinking if I was alive when Jesus was alive what role would I have played? I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have been Mary the mother of Jesus, because she was so pure and holy, but would I have been Mary Magdelene, the woman who Jesus cast seven demons out of and then followed Jesus? Would I have been John who baptized Jesus, but didn’t feel worthy to do so? Would I have been Judas, who betrayed Jesus or Peter who denied knowing Jesus? Would I have been one in the crowd that chose to set Barabas free and yelled crucify Jesus? Would I have been one of the robbers who hung on the cross with him, and if so which one? The one who hurled insults at him or the one who wanted to go with him to heaven? Would I have been a Roman soldier who beat him so bad that he wasn’t human like anymore? Have you ever thought about if you were alive when Jesus was, how you would have felt about Jesus? I have thought about it a lot. Yes, I love Jesus now, but would I have loved him back then?

I have walked in ways that I am not proud of and I think we can all say we have. I have made choices that contradict my walk as a Christian woman. I have taken for granted what Jesus did for me on the cross that day in Calvary. I have been a Martha, who was just too busy to sit at Jesus’ feet and soak in his presence. If we are all honest, I bet I am not alone in this. What if we woke up everyday and said, “Jesus I know what you did for me on the cross, I thank you for it and I choose to truly walk with you.” What if when we read the gospels we put ourselves in Jesus’ shoes and thought about all the trials he faced? He was tempted by the devil with every temptation and yet he said no. Think of the sins you have been temped with and remember Jesus was too. The Pharisees were so jealous of him that they constantly questioned his every move, hoping to catch him in a sin. He was beaten and mocked. People turned their back on him and hurled insults, yet he still carried that cross. He was rejected over and over again. He was nailed to a cross still alive, even though his body was basically hamburger. After being nailed to the cross, he said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34

When Jesus hung on that cross, he had each of us in mind. He knew what he had to do to set us free. It should have been me on that cross. It should have been me beaten and mocked, but it wasn’t. God sent His only Son to save us, to redeem us, to free us and yet daily we take it for granted. We walk in unforgiveness and hate toward others. We allow the hate of this world consume us so much that we can no longer live with one another. We would rather prove to others our point than love one another. We shame others to feel better about ourselves, then turn around and go to church like good little Christian soldiers. I am pointing the finger right back at me. I have done this! I am ashamed to admit it, especially since I do love God so much. I fail Jesus everyday and some days worse than others. We all have fallen short and we have all turned our back on Jesus at some point. That doesn’t make us hopeless though. We are work in progress and because God has so much grace, He knows that.

So here is my Easter message. When Jesus took the beatings, he thought of you. If you were the only one alive, he still would have done it. When you are at the bottom of your slimy pit, Jesus is there. He doesn’t care how low you get, because he will come and get you. He loves you even when you are at your very worst and that right there is why we praise Him in the lowest of times. He doesn’t care what your name is, or what your past is, he loves you just the way you are. He doesn’t care if you have lied, cheated or even killed, he is there to pull you out of that dark place. The only thing we have to do is say yes. When he died, he took every nasty sin under the sun with him. That means when we realize we have sinned, all we have to do is repent. When we repent with a pure heart, we are instantly forgiven. When we are deep in depression, Jesus is right there. Remember, Jesus went through every temptation and so he knows how you feel. We have a Savior that sympathizes with us. He knows the pain we feel and he wants to deliver us from whatever it is that keeps us in that dark place. So my challenge to you this Easter is to remember the sacrifice Jesus made for you and to say, “Yes Jesus, I will follow you no matter how hard life gets and I trust you with my life.” Following Jesus doesn’t get us on a road to easy street on earth, but it gives us a place in eternity with Him. I wish you all a very Happy Easter. Enjoy time with family and friends, because they are gift from God.

John 8:36 KJV; If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

John 15:13 NKJV; Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.