Today I want to talk about how to prepare for Easter. Maybe you haven’t given that much thought. After all, we all lead busy lives. We do a good job of preparing for Christmas. But Easter?
To Christians, Easter is the most important day of the year. It’s the day we celebrate the central event of history, the day Jesus rose from the dead in order to make eternal life possible for you and me. So let’s give some thought to what we can do this week to prepare for Easter.
When you read the Palm Sunday story in Luke 19:29-44 & Matthew 21:10-11 you will find three things you can do:
1. Do What Jesus Says.
Jesus sent two of His disciples on a strange little mission, ‘Go to this little village up the road, untie the colt you’ll find, and bring it to me.’ The Bible doesn’t tell us which two went nor does it say what they talked about on the way. But those disciples, whoever they were, did what Jesus said.
That’s a good model for you and me this week before Easter. You could do no better than to follow the example of those two disciples who, though they had no way to know what the future would hold and what their actions would bring about, they simply obeyed.
2. Feel What Jesus Feels.
Something happened on the ride into Jerusalem that we don’t talk about too often. In fact, you may never have even noticed this event as part of His ride of triumph. We tend to get so caught up in the crowd, the shouts, the emotion, the excitement, that it slips right by us. Don’t worry, you are not alone; from every indication, the crowds didn’t notice it, either. Matthew, Mark or John didn’t mention it. Luke is the only Gospel writer who records this event. So don’t let it pass you by.
As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it. That, too, is a good model for you and me this week before Easter. You could do no better than to let yourself feel what Jesus feels, by letting your heart be broken for those who are hurting, those who are wandering, those who are searching, those who don’t even know they’re searching.
3. Tell Who Jesus Is.
Matthew reports that when Jesus came into the city it was ‘stirred.’ He uses the Greek word, ‘seio,’ from which we get our word ‘seismic.’ It’s the same word he used later in Matthew 27:51, where he said that at the moment Jesus died on the cross ‘the earth shook’ The city was stirred as an earthquake ‘stirs’ the ground.
That’s what will happen if you and I begin doing what Jesus says and feeling what Jesus feels; our whole city will be stirred! That’s what they’re waiting for. They’re waiting to see…
And you can do no better to prepare for Easter than to tell who Jesus is, to find ways to expose your friends, neighbors, family members, classmates, coworkers, anyone for whom you can feel what Jesus feels to the news that we proclaim next Sunday when we tell each other “He is Risen.” Your mission, if you would prepare for Easter in a way that will bring a smile to God’s face and true and lasting joy into the lives of others, is to find a person and invite him or her to be your guest to a church that’s going to talk about the resurrection of Jesus in a way that’s designed to give them hope for this life and for eternity without condescending, condemning, pushing or pressuring them. And when that happens, guess what may just happen next? The same thing it did for many in that Palm Sunday crowd: it will bring joy to others when they discover Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee, the Prince of God, the Risen Christ.…if there really is a God,
…if He really does care,
…if the people who fill the churches, sing His praises, cry out to Him and claim to know Him are any different,
…if their God can really be trusted,
…if their faith can really do anything.