“This is My body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of Me”  Luke 22:19

“But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”  Matthew 21:29

“To Him who struck Egypt in their first born, for His mercy endures forever.”  Psalm 136:10

Time.  Time can be a challenge for us.  We’ve entered into a time of year, the Season of Lent, where we reflect on as well as prepare ourselves for the commemoration and celebration of, the entering into relationship with Our Living Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through His life, death and resurrection.

So how can time become an issue?  It’s not about making time to reflect or prepare.  It can be an issue because of our limited human perspective as it applies to time.  You see we are a species limited to a linear perspective, especially when it comes to time, the passing of time and the language we use to express it.  Let’s look at some examples.  We say Jesus had his “last supper, we say the Christ was arrested, suffered and was crucified and we say that He rose again from the dead.  Now please don’t misunderstand me, I whole heartedly believe that those things actually happened.  The challenge for us is when we consider those things in a historical context; that is to say we commemorate and celebrate that they happened over 2,000 years ago, we may find that we primarily attach importance to them as strictly historical events.  The danger can be that to the extent we celebrate them solely in a historical context, Christ can become primarily a historical figure, like some great past societal leader, sports great, or other celebrity, who although we acknowledge their existence and even their greatness in their time, they have very little relevance to us in today’s world, in the present time.  Worst yet, if Christ has little relevance in today’s world, we can go searching for someone else to who we should pay more attention to, who has more relevance for us today.  Heaven Forbid!

Notice that Christ, Himself, in the way He communicated wanted to make sure that we understood He was the Savior, the King of Kings, for all time.  He tells us He will feast with us again.  He promises us that He is preparing rooms for us in His Father’s House and He will return to bring us back home.  Christ promises us to send, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit to us.  In each of these things, Christ is speaking in the present tense.  He is not speaking about one particular place or people in time.  He is promising this for all who love and follow Him, for all time.

Dear Sisters and Brothers, that Jesus Christ was willing to come to earth for us, teach us, suffer for us, take our sins upon himself and die for us is an act of love and sacrifice beyond measure and understanding.  It is right that we should humbly, with meekness and awe in our hearts, commemorate and celebrate His sacrifice for us.  David also understood the necessity of reminding people of the glorious, miraculous deeds God had done for His people in the past when David reminded the people of the Passover some 400 years after it took place.  However, David did that, not just to revel in some past miracle, but to stress the point that God’s mercy was the exact same mercy in the present as it had been 400 years previous in the time of Moses and freeing of the Jewish people.

Thus, let us make sure, not only during the Season of Easter, but each and every other season of the Christian Calendar as well, to be in an ever present relationship with our living, ever relevant Savior, Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ who is as very much alive today, whose love and authority is just as powerful and pertinent today as it was when He uttered these two promises; “for without me you can do nothing,” and “greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father”.   Notice that both of the statements, as well, are in the present tense.  In fact it is imperative that we understand that Christ was telling us, He wanted us to know that today, this very moment and all moments to come we can do nothing without Him, yet abiding in Him we can do greater works then He did on earth.

Let us celebrate that Jesus Christ is alive today.  He has no desire that we should only honor and look longingly back to those things He did in the past.  Jesus Christ makes it clear that He desires to have a vibrant, personal relationship with us this very moment, now and forever more.  A relationship of everlasting love that glorifies the name of Our Heavenly Father and showers us with blessings of peace and joy.  May all have a wonderfully blessed and happy Easter.

Our Most Gracious Heavenly Father, we are so very thankful for the word which You have allowed us to have that teaches us and reveals the lengths that You will go to have a loving relationship with us.  Forgive us Merciful Father when, through our limited ability to comprehend and perceive, we see Your Word, especially as it applies to Your Plan of Salvation through the death and resurrection of Your Son Jesus Christ as something that happened in the past with little relevance to us today.  Pour out Your Holy Spirit and have Him testify to us, the living nature of Your Promise, through Your eternally living Son, Jesus Christ.  Help us to see and experience a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through which we are able to humbly come, being redeemed by His blood, into your presence.  These things we pray in the name of Him who died once that we who call on His name will have eternal life, Jesus Christ. Amen