iCrucified

[08APRIL2012] Lent | Easter Sunday 2012: Day 47—Reflection and Meditation

O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

♦ Psalms 118:1-2, 14-24

♦ Isaiah 25:6-9

♦ 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

♦ John 20:1-18

“The sun has risen. Seek the Son of Man no more among the dead. He has broken the bonds of death. Alleluia! A fire grows in our hearts. Jesus abides with us. His mystery accompanies us. Death gives way to glory. Alleluia!”

Easter Sunday: He is Risen! “Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” (John 20:29)

It’s 11:30pm on Easter Sunday as I put down my closing thoughts on this Resurrection Remembrance. While part of me has celebrated outwardly remembering the significance of what this day represents, I have wrestled with disturbance in my soul for most of the day too. Part of me was sad. Bothered. Bugged. Annoyed.

I tried to ask my soul what the deal was, but it seemed too agitated to respond to me until a few hours ago. Maybe it was simply a matter of selfish immaturity (soul sulking???), but here is what my soul said to me.

I didn’t like rushing through this day. The past forty days I have spent focused on the need for and work of reconciliation that our Savior has provided us. I’ve anticipated this day, looking ahead and waiting specifically for it as I intently scrutinized every dark place within me. I acknowledge the need for the redemptive work of Christ and wanted to enter into this day in celebratory fashion, yes, but I also wanted to soak in reverent adoration at the feet of our Victorious Savior King as well—and not just alone, but with the corporate body…all of us worshiping and adoring our Great Redemptor God. So much of today felt “plastic” and “polished” …several moments felt awkward and out of place for me. I wanted to savor the Bread and Wine of Your Paschal Feast with You…but that was also missed from my day. Perhaps I had unrealized expectations. This day isn’t about me, but I do share with the Body proper as a participant. So, I’ve already repented of my selfish wants and extended forgiveness without condition for whatever offense I had taken earlier. As a crucified member who shares the Cross of Christ, I cannot afford to be downcast or downtrodden. I choose to move on. I, Your soul, am not bummed, bugged, or bothered anymore. Christ has Risen and He is my Victory.

So, I will end this day with my heartfelt prayer to Jesus, the One who has saved me for the joy of Himself and given to me the Victory and Peace this world holds no comparison to—

O Lord, my Lord, thank you for the Victorious Cross. Thank you for the Empty Tomb. Thank you for your unrelenting passion that never failed me and the Mercy of your unceasing Grace that prevented my heart from becoming hardened as Pharaoh’s was. Lord Jesus, when you turned me with prophetic revelation back in the fall of 2001 it was those words that have never escaped me…that encounter with you exceeded any other experience I had previously shared with you. I cannot thank you enough for that supernatural visitation. So tonight, I thank you with the prayer of those words that have spoken life to me and held me close to you for these last eleven years—“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless.” (Galatians 2:20). Glory Be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be—world without end. Amen.