Easter memories

My last horrible sickness occurred Christmas Eve/Christmas morning. Here I am, Easter weekend, with another comparable illness. This is the fruit of too many all-nighters trying to finish my thesis and plan my teaching block, combined with the ultimate germiness of grade two students. I distinctly remember one coughing right in my face last week. :(

As I was lying in bed, I occasionally thought about all the work that awaits me when I'm better. I have 3 more weeks of teaching...planning, 2 scrapbooks, a Bible study to plan, letters to write...so many THINGS to do. I realize I've been so task-oriented lately that I've forgotten about ME. How can I possibly get all these things done if I'm not taking care of the person who'll be doing them??

And thus, I come back to this: I am a Martha. "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42 Mary chose to sit at the feet of the wisest man on earth, to sit with Him, listen to Him and to be in His presence. And I know I need to take some time to relax, to stop doing, and to simply be in His presence. Sigh.

I also needed to pause to consider the real meaning of Easter. The real meaning of Easter...it's not eggs, and it's not chocolate. It's not getting dressed up for the special Easter service at church. What is it about? It's about an empty tomb. It's about the one figure in all the major world religions who did not succumb to death.

It's interesting, I woke up this morning and watched some TV, and I saw a man named Tony Costa on some show. I know Tony Costa because he's come to speak at many of our Campus Crusade events at York, and this man is BRILLIANT. He has done so much research on cults, world religions, and the historical person of Jesus. He was talking about Jesus' resurrection, and about some of the theories that surround this empty tomb. After Jesus was crucified, he was put in a tomb under heavy Roman guard. 3 days later, the tomb was empty. Some people think that Jesus wasn't dead in the first place. Now, if anyone has seen the scourging and crucifixion Jesus went through, I think we'd all understand how ridiculous that is. I think it would be higly impossible that Jesus would "faint" and then come back to consciousness three days later with enough strength to roll aside a tombstone. Another theory is that the disciples lied about everything: about Jesus' death, and about his subsequent resurrection. Now, Tony noted that people do not die martyr's deaths for things they do not believe, and every one of the disciples died a martyr's death. If they had really made the whole thing up, and didn't really believe that Jesus was really the Son of God, then they would not have died for the cause. Tony also noted that from the disciples' perspectives, Jesus' death on the cross would have been a huge letdown. They were expecting the Messiah, a God. Would they have started to spread the message of Christianity with such vigour after an event that seemed to disprove everything Jesus had taught? And yet, history records the rapid and widespread travels of this new faith. I don't think the disciples would have been so eager to spread the news of something, or someone they didn't believe in. ANd yet they did. Which leads me to believe they believed in Jesus with all their hearts.

Tony summed it up by saying that we don't like to look at the empty tomb because it forces us to think, to consider. If a man who claimed to be the Son of God really rose from the dead...what does that mean? And then subsequently, how are we to take the teachings of one who transcended death? It's such a heavy subject, and one that I shouldn't have started to tackle while I was sick. I'll have more to say when I have more energy!