A Time to Remember, A Time to Rejoice!

        With Easter being right around the corner we've spent the last couple of weeks talking about why we celebrate Easter. Easter is a time to remember that Jesus Christ suffered and died as he bore OUR sin. It's also a time to rejoice in the fact that Jesus rose again conquering death. R. Kent Hughes points out when commenting on John 19:17-22 that it is "easy to become desensitized to the reality" of Christ's death. He goes on to say that,    
     "As Christians we must steel ourselves against desensitization. Christ's passion was real. True, we should
      not be overcome with a morbid preoccupation with the gore of the cross. Still, Christ's agony must never
      become a matter of dispassionate interest. His physical sufferings have always been, and will remain, a
      window through which we see his greater agony as he bore the world's sin."
It's interesting that in Philippians chapter 2 when Paul is writing about the humility of Jesus in verse 8 he says "he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,..". But he doesn't leave it at that, the end of the verse says, "even death on a cross." Paul is driving home the point that not only was Jesus willing to die but to suffer the most humiliating, agonizing, and brutal way to die.
          So this Easter remember that it's not just some nice fairy tale, but an event in history that really happened. Rejoice in the fact that through Christ's death we might become the righteousness of God. Rejoice that he overcame death and rose again. Rejoice in the hope that it brings to those who would believe in him and receive a new and everlasting life.