The Story of Easter

(Devotional by Pastor Ben)

It all begins in a candle-lit upper room somewhere in Jerusalem. Jesus and His disciples are celebrating Passover, the night when their ancestors, the Israelites, centuries before, escaped death and slavery by smearing lambs’ blood on their doorposts. On this particular night, however, Jesus is painfully aware that the story of the Passover lamb is about to become His story.
When the candles are snuffed out at the end of the meal, the most evil forces of cruelty, hatred, fear and guilt are unleashed upon the only innocent man who ever lived. Jesus, the perfect One, literally becomes every sin ever committed by all of mankind, and God has to turn his back on Him. More than the torture of the cross, this is the greatest of agonies — for both of them.
As Easter morning dawns, an empty grave reveals a dazzling triumph. Jesus is not there! The end of the story is rewritten! The blood of the final Passover lamb has done its work. Death is defeated, and the slave shackles of sin are broken.
Did you know that the story of Easter can rewrite your story? You might recognize your own life in the slaves in Egypt or the confused disciples or a guilty thief or the disillusioned mourners. But you’ll discover something about the stories in these devotionals: the endings always change when lives intersect with Jesus. Your story, too, can be rewritten by the story of Easter.

Passover
It is a momentous convergence of events. Jesus’ life on earth is about to reach its climax on this holy night when the Jews are celebrating the Passover. He is to be the final Passover lamb.
Imagine the golden glow of flickering candlelight softening the faces of a band of men who are unaware that everything is about to end. Later, they will look back on poignant moments from this night and only then understand the significance: Jesus, reading the Passover story, knowing it was soon to be His story; Jesus’ unexpected demonstration on blended knee; Jesus altering an ancient tradition to begin a new sacrament.
Jesus knows how the story of this terrible night will end. So He lingers with His closest friends and opens his heart to them. He confronts His enemy, comforters the sad and confused, conveys hope, and confers His blessing. He then goes out alone to bury Himself in the comforting arms of His Father one last time, as has been the pattern all through His life.
The disciples were celebrating Passover with Jesus. Unbeknownst to them, events were about to unfold that would reveal the long-intended symbolism of the first Passover lamb. Imagine Rabbi Jesus reading aloud these original instructions from God to Moses, knowing that He was about to become the final lamb whose blood would free humanity from slavery to sin.

“Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.”

“The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.”

“This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.”

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will; be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”

“Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants.”

It’s hard to imagine anything more dramatic than the events of that first Passover night. Read the whole story of the night the Israelites were set free from Egyptian slavery in Exodus 12.