Just Sit On It: A Different View of Easter

Have you ever felt hopeless? Easter is the holiday of hope.

Yesterday, I went to do my weekly weigh-in for the diet I've been on. I had one more pound to lose in order to be at my high school weight, which has been my goal since I first started the liquid diet from Baptist Health Systems. And just like an answered prayer, I lost that last pound. My goal has been reached--48 pounds lost in 9 months. The children and I drove back home and I began getting ready for work when Gracie asked me for a sheet of paper. She disappeared for a while, then I heard her sobbing in the living room: "I can't do it! I'll never be able to do this card!" I walked in the room and asked her why she was having a break down. "I was trying to make you a card to tell you how proud I am of you, mommy, but I can't spell the word I want and I can't draw a heart!" Huge alligator tears were streaming down her face. "I've lost my hope!" she wailed.

What a sweet gesture. Gracie wanted to write me a note of congratulations but she was growing increasingly frustrated because things weren't turning out the way she planned. I explained to her the importance of not giving up, to keep trying, and to ask God to help her get her "hope" back at writing her card. When I came home for dinner, she met me at the door. "I got my hope back, mommy, and I made a card for you!" She was excited.

In thinking about Easter and the resurrection of Christ, I believe I would've felt hopeless after witnessing what all had happened on Good Friday. Sure, I would've heard Jesus say he would "rise again", but in looking at his ghastly face on the cross, I'd truly wonder if it was really going to happen. How could it? How could he rise again? He was too broken and couldn't be put back together again.

The chief priests and the Pharisees became a little nervous after they had sentenced Jesus to death. They asked Pilate to allow them to go to the tomb to make sure the stone was strong, heavy and secure. They were afraid Jesus would do exactly what he said he would do on the third day. They wanted to make sure Jesus was NOT going to walk out of that tomb! What happens next is one of the best parts of the Easter account.

Matthew 28:2 says, "And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it." Did you see that last part? The angel sat on it! Now of all things to do after you roll the stone away! I love it. It was like God said, "There! Take that!"

So the next time you feel hopelessness trying to creep up on you, just remember what happened on Easter morning. The angel sat down and God said, "Take that, hopelessness! Take that, depression! Take that, grief! Take that, worry! Take that, condemnation!"

Kind of makes you look at sitting down a little differently now, doesn't it?