Today, I find myself wondering what Easter in Heaven is like! What is mama doing today? Do they celebrate Good Friday? Do they worship differently this weekend than they would any other week or day? Do they sing different songs, or do they just continue magnifying the Lord as they do every day? Oh my goodness, if we worship here in a special way as we celebrate our risen Savior, it has to be pretty amazing in Heaven when we are with Him and can touch his nail-pierced hands ? I’m pretty sure they don’t prepare Easter baskets and all get a new clothes and take family photos and dye eggs and hide them and then try to find them in the yard (hopeful they don’t accidentally leave a few behind to rot in the sun). I’m certain there’s not an angel dressed up as a bunny for all the babies to sit on their lap & take photos with. Such a silly thought, right? While these are all a fun part of Easter, and I am certainly not knocking any of it. (I am an old soul and love my traditions, people!), I know Easter in Heaven is way beyond our imaginations and can’t even compare to any way we could conjure up to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord!
I can’t even imagine getting to spend Easter with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Can’t imagine getting to bow before Him and worship Him and thank Him for his sacrifice – for the way the was spat on, mocked, beaten, tortured, mocked again, and ultimately rejected by us all… and then, for a moment, felt His Father turn his face away from Him. Oh I can’t even imagine the pain He endured. The torture, the humiliation, the sadness, the grief…more intense than anything any of us has ever known. Moments when we have been rejected by those dearest to us can’t even compare to the rejection Christ suffered from everyone dear to Him. Our deepest, most intense grief pales in comparison to His grief when His Father had to turn his face away from His son carrying the sin of the world on His shoulders. Our moments of excruciating, physical pain are just a drop in the bucket when measured and held up to his pain of nails piercing his sides, his hands, his feet…a crown of thorns being shoved on his head! Our moments of humiliation (whether real or imagined) are microscopic when we see the humiliation He suffered (but they are certainly not insignificant...keep reading ;)
But you know what? He is not the kind of Lord and Savior that compares our pain, our rejection, our humiliation, our grief to His or anyone else’s. He cares so deeply about each of our trials, about each of our pain. He knows what it is to be humiliated, rejected, grieve, and have the worst pain imaginable…yet He never says to us “What you’re going thru doesn’t matter or is trivial because of what I went thru”. He never minimizes our pain or tells us to suck it up. As a matter of fact, I think what He went thru causes Him to be even more compassionate, more kind, more loving. He knows what it is to hurt at the deepest, most agonizing level imaginable, and yet he never thinks we’re sissies because of our pain that pales in comparison to His. He continually blows my mind with this abundant mercy, abundant compassion, and abundant love! And He continually inspires me to want to be more like Him! What other “god” can do that for me? None! He is the one true God! The only one that has suffered an unimaginable death for those He loves, yet the only one who has NEVER sinned! And the only one that continually offers us any Hope, constant Forgiveness, and abundant Mercy and Love! He is the only one that makes this life worth living when we feel hopeless and discouraged. And He is the only one that can change our sinful, greedy, selfish hearts into beauty, grace, forgiveness, love and compassion for each other!
Oh how grateful I am that Today we get to remember His sacrifice for us all! And we long for the day we get to celebrate Easter in Heaven…bowing down before Him and spending an eternity thanking Him for all He has done for us…worshipping with all the Saints and all those who have gone before us. What a glorious eternity it will be!
He is more than words and will always be more than enough! Thank you, Jesus for your ultimate sacrifice. Thank you for choosing us, a sinful, broken people to be in a restored relationship with you. You are so much more than we ever deserve!