John 16:17-18
Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.”One of the saddest parts about the Easter account in the Scriptures is how confused the followers of Jesus really were about the events that were occurring.
On many occasions, Jesus tried to explain it to them and prepare them for what was about to happen, but their hearts were very hard and they couldn’t accept or understand what He was telling them.
Instead, they abandoned Him, scattered, and ran for their lives. When they got back together, we see them in great fear and hiding from the authorities.
And yet Jesus had given them a command that they should not let their hearts be troubled. Obviously they failed to obey that one. But the reason they failed was their confusion. Their troubled hearts had actually been unnecessary.
Now there are myriads of Easter memes that I have seen posted on social media that let me know that the confusion about what happened at Easter has not dissipated in the least.
And because of the confusion, there are still a lot of troubled hearts among Christians. Troubled hearts that would be unnecessary if they understood the whole truth and not just a sliver of it.
It is very difficult to NOT have a troubled heart if you do not understand the ramifications of Easter. The resurrection of Jesus is the bedrock of victorious Christianity. But confusion about it will bring unsettled issues into your life. Issues that the devil will use to eat your lunch.
I wish I had the space to post longer about the religious traditions that are common, but that rob people of the great power that Easter should bring into their lives, because these traditions are simply wrong. But I realize if I go too long that few people would read it.
Let me just focus on one that has been prominent in my particular Facebook news feed, although there are others.
There is a supposed time-line of “holy” week. It is given from a western perspective of time keeping. The only problem is that the Bible was written by people with an eastern perspective of time keeping. And so the popular time-line is completely wrong.
Why is this a problem? Because the popular western time-line makes it impossible to see that Jesus became the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb. He was killed on Passover. Passover that week was on Thursday, not Friday.
But the traditional time-line will tell you that Jesus was killed on the Friday Sabbath. If that is how you understand it, you will have difficulty understanding that you are under the blood of the perfect and final Passover Lamb. Immune from the angel of death and judgment.
And so you will struggle with condemnation. And guilt. And not getting your prayers answered because you don’t feel worthy. And sickness that you can’t get rid of. And lack of resources.
Your religious tradition has taken away your victory because it is confusing your understanding of the truth. Good Friday is a complete fabrication that causes confusion.
Jesus died on Passover (Thursday). The religious tradition of Good Friday is a hoax that adds confusion. No wonder there are so many troubled hearts.
Pastor Mike