Psalm 51:10-12
As someone who has walked after Jesus for a long time, making something so familiar as Easter, even though it is an awe inspiring, life changing event – fresh can and filled with a new sense of wonder and gratitude can be hard sometimes. As I listened to a powerful resurrection message from our pastor and jotted down some possible titles for some post Easter encouragement. I thought I had landed on one, but the words just wouldn’t come, even as I studied and reflected on the cross and the risen Jesus. Then as is often the case inspiration came from an unexpected source.
I don’t know how many of you watch Grey’s Anatomy, but Dan and I do regularly and the inspiration for this word of encouragement comes from an episode that aired on March 29, just days before Easter.
There is a character on the show whose name is April Kepner. April is a doctor and since she first arrived on the scene (years ago), it was no secret that she was a woman of faith, a Christian. Now like all of us who follow after Christ, she was not perfect but she was doing her best to live out what she believed. A number of episodes before this one just before Easter – April had a really bad day at work – so bad that by the end of it she is having a full blown crisis of faith. April goes completely off the rails – drinking, sleeping with any man that was interested, being mean to people she cares about, treating the interns harshly – the only thing she hadn’t done was curse God. Oh she was plenty mad, shaking her fists and wanting to know what good is it to believe something and live something. In one episode following the start of the crisis one of the men she’s been with shares his own struggles with God following the death of his son, but also shares that he still managed to find comfort in church. Some of the pain, a little of the pain April is feeling starts to break away. Then in the episode the aired before Easter – April is at the bedside of a man dying an incredibly painful death, the result of a rare reaction to antibiotics. The man is a Rabbi. At first April is angry at the doctor who originally treated the man and she is trying to focus on keeping him comfortable.
But then there is a fierce conversation between the Rabbi and April - about God, about how this dying man can see that April is trying to hide her own pain and in doing so is acting like a child. He questions why she thinks that she was ever meant to understand everything or to think that there wouldn’t be unfair suffering in the world. This Rabbi whose skin is basically just falling apart asks April to tell the other doctor that he forgives her. At the end of the show it turns out that, that fierce conversation with a dying rabbi restores April’s faith. Oh, April’s heart will still have some healing to do and she’ll have to mend the wounds that she inflicted on others but you could see that the weight had been lifted and she could once again see Jesus as her Savior.
In the passage above, King David had been confronted with his sin and cries out for his God to restore him, so that he would once again feel the joy of his salvation. That's really what Jesus’ journey to the cross was for, so that by His death, He could take away the sins of all had and would believe in him and in so doing restore us to a right relationship with the God who made us and loves us more than we can ever truly understand. And on that day when the tomb was empty, because Jesus had defeated death - what joy the disciples had. A joy that continues to ripple out from that moment and fills all of us who call Jesus – Savior and Lord.
Maybe you are not having a faith crisis – but your faith is feeling a little dry, spend some time with Jesus ask him to restore the joy of your salvation and breathe new life into your faith.
Maybe you are in full crisis mode wondering if it's even worth trying to live the way Jesus wants you to – with all the pain, suffering and unanswered questions. Cry out to Him and then seek out someone of faith you trust and respect and have a fierce conversation, maybe have more than one.
Maybe you don’t know Jesus or don’t believe He is who said he is, or that He died for you and your sins. Seek Him and you will find Him. Chances are He is very near to you already, just waiting for you to want to know Him.
No matter where you are in life or what you are facing, remember that Jesus is a Rabbi who died to take away your sins and then rose victorious from the grave - to give you a new and more abundant life in this moment and into eternity.
I am glad to be restored. What about you?
A Prayer
Father – thank you for your Son, thank you that He surrendered himself to the cross to take away our sins, bring us healing and restore our relationship with You. Thank you for raising Him to life again, that we too might live, not just in the here and now but forever. Help those of us who call Jesus Lord, to live our lives in such a way as to attract others to the cross and the empty and into the very presence of the savior. Give us eyes to see hurting hearts around us. In the name of Jesus, who restores all who believe – Amen.
