This past weekend I attended the Easter egg hunt at the community hall in Port Robinson.
I was amazed at the number of families out with their little ones partaking in this great tradition, even on an east coast rainy day. What a great time for family and community to come together as we celebrated this special time with the kids.
Lenten season, Good Friday and Easter have now passed. Yes we were probably busy with all the traditions of life during this busy season. My hope is that you found yourselves in good spirits while with family and friends. Speaking of hope, Easter can be a special time when new hope can be resurrected in our lives.
Not to dampen our spirits like the recent wet weather but to some of us, these festivals of joy can be a sore reminder of a lost hope in family and friend situations. Instead of the positive, we experience a hurt which tends to isolate us in these painful times of unwelcome heartache and stress. From personal experience, it seems like a cross that one can hardly bear. Unfortunately, this appears quite opposite of the passage in Mark 8:34 that declares we are to take up our cross and follow Him. I don’t know about you but I have often thought in these situations, Don’t even go there, with this taking up my cross. After all, you know nothing of my cross.
If I am to be honest, through, as I look at the life of Jesus, I see that even He went through these very issues while here on earth. His family thought he was out of his mind, religious leaders wanted him dead and the disciples abandoned him in his final hours.
So how can we blame those folks, too ? I mean, taking up their cross could possibly mean death. After all, by believing in Jesus, they were denying imperial authority and were protesting a domination system which meant death. Jesus was crucified under this system which framed the Roman Empire and the Religious Establishment of the day. We need not be reminded that both worked in collusion to crucify our Lord and saviour. If we are honest, could we really take up our cross and follow Christ in these circumstances?
Today our cross may not be life-threatening but our personal realities are just as difficult at times.As a people, our cross to bear could be those aforementioned broken relationships.
The good news of the gospel is that Jesus bore all our pain on his cross for us. He took on the pain of all those broken relationships so we can bear it. The Bible says to cast all our burdens on Him as he cares for us. He identifies with us as he, too, has been through these very issues.
So taking up our cross and following Him means to firstly, acknowledge our hurts and pains and burdens that weigh heavily on our hearts. Secondly, we can give these issues to Jesus as He is our burden-carrier. By doing this in faith, those burdens that make up our cross is bearable. Maybe those broken relationships will be restored some day but if not, Jesus the burden-bearer will see us through.
The cross then can be seen as a new way of thinking. So I encourage each one of us to cast all these cares on Him because in our weakness, the Bible teaches that He is strong.
Hebrews 12:2 proclaims to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. As we allow Christ’s strength to work through us by allowing Him to take the heavy load, we just may experience the resurrection of new hope in our lives.
