My Problem with Easter

As I begin this pondering, Palm Sunday is just two days away.

There are lots of things I like about Easter. The budding of Spring is high on the list. But, I am not so keen on reading “Holy Week” events in the Bible. The more I have read it over the years, the more I dread reading the “Passion” of the man Jesus. I like Easter Sunday, but Wednesday through Saturday is hard to read and even more painful to ponder.

Over the centuries, thousands, perhaps millions, of people have died hideously painful deaths. Some may deserve to die, but I don’t believe any person merits to be tortured for death to be achieved. Take a look sometime at “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” to get a sense of the suffering some Christians have endured in the past. I have set at the bedside of many who have suffered their body’s painful demolition by cancer or other diseases. And then there is the terrible issue of babies who have been selfishly aborted.

When you go to a doctor, one of the things a nurse will ask is, ”Do you have any allergies?” I always say, “Yes! Pain.” I do not like pain, yours or mine. I have heard preachers speculate that Jesus’ worse pain was a “broken heart” at being rejected. That may be true, but from what I have learned about a Roman crucifixion, the intent was to inflict as much pain as possible. It was a shouted message to those they governed, and I, two thousand years later, get it loud and clear.

For me, the week before Easter is a mixed emotional celebration. The Resurrection of Jesus is not shrouded in any obscurity.

Tracing the history of Humanity living with their Creator is not a bedtime read. It is not a feel-good story like those on the Hallmark Channel. There was a period of my life when I could not find peace with the anger of God. But I kept asking Him about it and searching for a resolution to my discomfort. I have not reached a final answer, but I feel like I have grown in my understanding of God and His ways.

At the core, I keep coming to the reality that God’s anger is not the significant truth to be grasped. For me, I have found great peace and comfort in the enormity of his patience with Humanity. We are His Humanity created in His own image. How can a Holy God allow such a diabolical corruption that we humans generate to coexist in His “good” world?

No! I do not like the week leading up to Easter Sunday at all, but I need it. I appreciate it. I am humbled by it. I am inspired by it. I hope to worship appropriately because of it.

My problem with Easter is actually my problem. It’s with me and what I am capable of. I rejoice in the Easter truth that my problem has a solution, a permanent fix. I hope I never lose the complexity of emotions of the Easter season. In this emotional convulsion, I find a great urge to worship my Creator, my Lord, my Savior, my God. May it ever be so!