by Cowboy Bob Sorensen
When Easter is on the way, stores get greedy selling candy, cheap toys, rabbit images, and all sorts of nonsense. (At least we do not have to listen to pusillanimous secular Easter music.) To add to the stress, kids expect gifts because of marketing. Then there are atheists and feral legalistic Christians who promote the lie that Easter is pagan in origin. At least I can hear the birds with springtime songs chirping away while I walk to my car in the pre-dawn cool air, that is a good thing.
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| A picture taken at a big box store of a cuddly Jesus, run through cleanup.pictures |
That other stuff is grating, but this kind of thing puts a burr under my saddle. Mayhaps someone will say, "Oh, goodie! They're keeping Jesus in Easter!" Not hardly! Who is this guy? Some long-haired white guy in a robe and sandals with a beard that wouldn't antagonize anyone. He's not intimidating. I've got some bad news for you, sunshine.
First of all, Jesus irritated many people — with the blunt truth. More often than not, it was about religious beliefs. People don't take too kindly to learning that their deeply-held beliefs are wrong and that Jesus is not only the truth, but the only way to God.
Jesus is God, the Second Person of the Trinity. He is the Creator (Col. 1:16, John 1:1-13). People who read their Bibles and listen to good sermons know that whenever people encounter the holiness of God, they are terrified. Even in a vision, the prophet Isaiah said, “Woe is me! For I am lost..." (Isaiah 6:4-6). At the Resurrection, Roman guards saw the angel and "became like dead men" (Matt. 28:2-6).
God the Son set aside his divinity (Phil. 2:7) and became the man Jesus. He did this out of love, because the only way to reconcile God and humanity was for him to receive the sin of the world. Jesus died on a cross so that by faith, we can become born again children of the Father (John 3:3, 1 Peter 1:3, John 1:12). He defeated death when he was bodily raised from the dead on that third day.
The apostle John is probably the only disciple to die of natural causes. He and Jesus were great friends, but even he had problems in the presence of holiness as he told us in Revelation. Indeed, in his spiritual vision, he saw the glorified Jesus and "fell at his feet as though dead" (Rev. 1:17-18). The DeGarmo and Key song "When He Comes Back" talks about how Jesus was pushed around, but contains, "Remember that kid from the manger scene? When he gets back, he's going to reign as king!"
Jesus the Creator died for us and was raised in glory. We can be saved by faith. He will come back in power to receive us, dispensing justice and taking away our tears. You will bow your knee to him and call him Lord (Isaiah 45:23, Phil. 2:9-11) — whether you like it or not! Best to be a born again child of the Living God at that time.
No, old son. Jesus is not your cuddly buddy.