I’m finally at that age where I can embarrass my 12-year-old, which is a wonderful thing. I mean, I could have embarrassed him before, but now he’s at that stage where you’re starting to become a teenager and there’s this whole cool factor, and your dad’s not always cool. And one of the ways that I try to embarrass him, and this isn’t even in public, although I’ll do that too, I just do this at home, is I try and use the language that he uses as a sixth grader. And, and it’s interesting if you just look at the English language, how things become things so, so like there’s these phrases that, that junior high kids say, and maybe high school kids do, but I, I don’t hang around a lot of high school kids. So like the word cap means lie, which means if you say no cap, it means I’m telling the truth, which, which is ridiculous to me.

There’s nothing about that that makes any sense whatsoever. Or, or they’ll, they’ll say that somebody’s got riz because it’s short for charisma. And so like, if, if I’m doing something with my kids, playing sports with, with brand, I, I throw things like that all the time. They have this phrase, he’s him or she’s her, which means like, you’re the man. And so I like to say that if we’re playing basketball together or video games together, like he’s him, I’m him. And he does not like that, which is why I enjoy it, and I like to say it even more. And so some of those phrases, maybe they make it maybe 10 years from now, they’re still saying some of those phrases. Some of those I can guarantee you there’s no way, like there’s a phrase that they say sc toilet, which I don’t really understand that phrase, but there’s no way a hundred years from now sc toilet has become some part of our, our vernacular.

And yet, if you look at the English language, it’s weird how it evolves. It’s weird how it changes. Sometimes it makes no sense how it changes. Like, like I’ll give you an example. So there’s a word that we use you, you probably use often. That is the word touchy. And when we say someone’s being touchy, it means that they’re being oversensitive and irritable. So, so a very common word that we all use. Now, if you look at the root word, touch has nothing to do with being overly sensitive or irritable. And so you say, well, how did we make that? Like, if someone’s being touchy, really it should mean that they’re physically touching you too much. But that’s not how we use that word. Well, why? Well, the reason is because there’s another word that is the word touchy and the word touchy, which is a really old word that nobody uses anymore, but it means bad tempered, sensitive and irritable.

It has the same definition as the word touchy. So why do we have two words that have the same meaning? It’s because a hundred years ago, people used the word touchy, but then people would overhear it. And if you say that person is being very touchy, you could easily mhe it and think that they said that person is being very touchy. And so somehow based off people misunderstanding a word, the word changed. And now, if you look it up in definition, touchy is a real word. It wasn’t a hundred years ago, but now it is a real

Word, simply because it just got absorbed

Into culture. It it’s technically wrong. It technically shouldn’t be

A word. It came about by

Mistake. And yet now it’s become a thing. And so it’s interesting how language changes, because sometimes it changes just because people think it should change, not because it necessarily

Should, but

There’s other things in life where things change or

Our

Perception of things change, and we don’t really even realize it, even if it’s moved away from what’s truth

We

Just assume, well, that’s how I’ve always known it to be. And so it’s gotta be

The

Right thing. Two weeks from today

Is

Easter Sunday, and Easter Sunday is an amazing Sunday. It’s a celebration, but we wanna use the next two weeks

To prepare our hearts for Easter

To not skip past what

Jesus

Did for us on the cross. And so both this Sunday and next Sunday, I want to talk about

Everything

That happened in the upper room, the Last

Supper with

Jesus. And, and if, if in, if you’re like me, in your mind, when you think of the last Summer

Supper,

Probably the image that comes to mind is the very famous painting of the Last

Supper. This was painted

By Leonardo da Vinci. He started at

Around

1495, finished at 1498. It’s one of the most famous paintings in the world. And so because of how famous this painting is, and it’s just

Everywhere,

When I

Read The Last Supper, there’s a part of me that goes back to this. And that’s

Probably kind of what’s happening. And yet, if

You really

Dig into the details of this painting,

There’s a

Lot of things in this painting that are just completely and totally wrong. Now, like for example, at this painting, oh, go back to the painting, for example, at the painting, they’re sitting at a table, and that’s not what happened in the first century. They did not sit in chairs at a table.

They would’ve

Reclined at the table. And the passage will see,

It says that Jesus

Reclined at the table. And what they would’ve done is they would’ve been either on the floor or on a cushion, and they

Would’ve rely

Reclined

Specifically back to their left

Elbow and eaten with their right hand. So, so that’s wrong. Then you also have

That they’re

All eating bread,

Which bread is a big part of the

Passover meal. And yet

All of the bread as part

Of the Passover meal, which is what

They were having at the last Sper, was unleavened bread.

And it represented that when they were

Running away from

Egypt, that they didn’t have time to fully

Cook their bread.

And so it was all

Unleavened bread. Well, this is all very fluffy, very

Leaven bread definitely was not part

Of the last supper.

Interestingly, if

You look really closely, you

Probably can’t tell from there. But they’re eating fish.

That’s

‘Cause Leonardo da Vinci was

Catholic. And so being a good Catholic boy, he put fish

And the painting, and yet fish was not a part of

The last

Suburb. They would’ve been eating a lamb. There, there’s also some, some other nuances that are

Here. They’re dressed

In the style of the 15th century, which is when Leonardo da Vinci lived. Probably the biggest difference though is the fact that he painted them all as European white guys. And you know what? Jesus and the disciples were not as European white guys. They would’ve been Middle Eastern Jews. And so there’s these cultural things that sometimes what we do is we just place those things onto our perception of events, when in fact, they were very different from what would’ve actually happened. So here’s, here’s the goal for today is we won’t get into crazy detail. ’cause You, you could spend the next six months talking about some of the Jewish traditions that are connected to Passover. But we wanna get a little bit more into detail to understand the, the emotions, the feelings of what would’ve been happening that night, but also the beautiful picture that Jesus was painting for his disciples and for us about what the Passover meant and how Jesus fulfilled those things.

And so a few things about Passover meal is that one, it’s in all the gospels. So all four gospels, there’s plenty of stories that we only get in one gospel or a couple gospels. Not a lot of stories do we get in all of the gospels. The last suppers were counted in all four gospels. In addition to that, it’s not a short experience. And so if you think of the discourse, all the teaching that happens in the upper room, it’s a lot. As a matter of fact, in the book of John the, the discourse is five chapters long. So this is a long time. When we think of a meal, we tend to think of a meal that, well, okay, we’re gonna go and we’re gonna eat for 45 minutes together. If it’s a long meal, maybe it’s an hour, an hour and a half, this would’ve been at minimum a two hour meal Based off all the teaching Jesus does, this is probably four plus hours of Jesus hanging out with the disciples and experiencing this Passover meal together.

Now, now let’s talk about what the Passover meal was. So Passover meal, interestingly, it changed after 70 ad, 70 ad is when Rome comes in and destroys the temple. So how Jews will participate in the Seder meal today looks a little bit different. But most of the substance of what a Jew would experience with the Seder meal right now, it’ll be next weekend, will be Passover looks very similar to what Jesus and his disciples would’ve been doing in the first century. So the backdrop for all of this teaching in the upper room is the Passover Seder meal. Seder is a Hebrew word, which just simply means order. And so the whole thing about the Passover meal, the Seder meal, is that they would eat certain things in a specific order in order to tell a story to remind them of what God had done in the Old Testament. So to describe the Eder meal, here’s a really simple explanation. The Eder meal is a carefully ordered Jewish ritual with 15 distinct steps using symbolic foods, scripture and storytelling to remember and relive God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt. In addition to that, though, it invites participants to remember God’s faithfulness in delivering his people from slavery, but also pointing toward

Forward to a greater

Redemption. And so I think sometimes if you’ve, if you’ve been around church, you know, okay,

There’s

The pass of a meal and Jesus becomes a lamb. And so they’re just remembering the exodus out of

Egypt. But there’s

This second piece to it

That

Yes, they’re trying to remind the next generation and the next generation and the next generation of God’s faithfulness that we were slaves in Egypt and God delivered us from that. God

Has brought, God brought us out of that. But

Additionally, they were looking ahead and saying, God will one day redeem us again. Now, their expectation of that

Was that

God would redeem them from Rome. Not more than than about a hundred years

Before there was this great Jewish

Uprising against Rome. And Rome came in and absolutely slaughtered a bunch of people and stamped it down. So, so the Jewish mindset in the first century was very much this idea

That we

Are under the oppression of Rome and we need, just

Like God brought us out

Of Egypt, we need that Messiah that will come and bring us out of

The captivity of Rome. So if you’ve

Got a Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 22.

We’re gonna look at the last supper

Setting and then we’ll unpack some of the, the meaning behind what’s happening.

It

Says, then they came to the day of unleavened bread. Unleavened bread.

Remember when we take the Lord’s supper, we always use the

Cracker. And as a kid

I was like, why

You keep talking about bread? And this is not bread. I’ve seen bread. This ain’t it. And the reason we use a

Cracker is because

It is unleavened bread, bread

Without yeast, because that was part of the

Passover meal. So the day came of unlimited bread on which the Passover lamb had to be

Sacrificed. So

Jesus sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare the

Passover for us

That we may eat it.

They

Said to him,

Where will you have us prepare it?

He said to them, behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house.

The teacher says to

You, where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show

You a large

Upper room furnished.

Prepare it there.

And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. And when the hour came, now there’s a specific time when it starts,

It’s a little

Bit confusing because our calendar is different than the Jewish calendar. So the

Passover

Meal would’ve happened for them on Thursday night at

About six o’clock. But

Our calendar,

Our day

Starts at midnight and ends at midnight. The Jewish calendar, the new day begins the moment the sun goes down. So

For, for what we

Would think of as Thursday night was actually the very beginning of Friday morning. So

That’s the

Specific hour when it talks about when the hour came,

It says he

Reclined at the table again. This is the posture

That they would’ve had

At a table in the first century. And the apostles with him. And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer for I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took a cup and we had given thanks. He said, take this and divided among yourselves for I tell you that from now on I will not eat, not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Now, there’s a lot of beautiful imagery that Jesus has taken from the Old Testament, the Passover and tying it to himself. But the heart of the Passover meal for a Jew in the first century was this idea that, that God saved us. And we don’t ever want to forget what it is that God did for us. When I think in my life, I mean, when I think of some memorable moments in my life the earliest memory that I know that I have is when I got lost as a kid. And, and I know that I was about three years old because I’ve had this conversation with my mom as recently as this year. And and it’s kind of a crazy story when, when I realized that I was three, I can’t remember anything else around that time. I’m not, I might not have another memory and until I was maybe five or six, but I do vividly remember this experience when I was three years old.

We were at a theme park called Astroworld. And Astroworld was like a six flags giant theme park. It no longer exists probably for some good reason, but a lot of memories as a kid at, at Astroworld, both good and bad. And so I was about three years old and my, my parents were, there were some other church families and it was starting to get towards dusk. And I, I remember they were all kind of congregated together. And I walked over and was looking at the glow in the dark stuff that they started to turn on, started to get out. So that glow in the dark swords and those, those things that you’d snap and it starts glowing and you put around your neck, the glow sticks, and they were having a conversation. And ultimately what happened is the guys went one way to go do some rides and the girls went another way to go do some rides.

And when I turned around, everybody was gone. And so I’m three years old in a theme park by myself. And I, I vividly remember, that’s why I know it’s my earliest memory because I don’t remember anything around that. But I remember the moment I turned around and no one is there. And I remember frantically for a couple minutes looking around trying to find someone, look around, trying to find someone, where’s mom? Where’s dad was? Anybody that I know and I could not find them. And, and I had had that conversation with mom and dad beforehand of, if you get lost, here’s what you do. It’s very different than today. You had no cell phones, you had no tracking devices that you stuck on kids. Like it was just, you’re by you’re lonesome. And so I remember being told, if you get lost, go find someone with a name badge on and tell them that you’re lost.

And so I go to an ASTROWORLD employee, I said, I can’t find my parents. And they took me to, and I kid you not a Lawson found for children, apparently theme parks have ’em. I remember going into this space and there’s like 30 kids in this room, <laugh>. So, so not an uncommon thing to lose your kids at a big theme park, but, but what struck me is most of these kids were running around and they looked like they were having a good time. Like they were playing and having fun. And, and I remember just going and sitting on the corner and just crying and, and wondering to myself, what is wrong with you guys? We are lost. I felt like it was the island of misfit toys that that was the emotion that I’ve got going on now. Now here’s the other side of the story is that, so my parents, they both thought the other one had me.

So my dad thought my mom, I was with my mom and my mom thought I was with my dad. And so they went and did rides for almost three more hours until, until the whole park closes down. And so they get back together, they’re about to head to the car, they get together and they’re about to head to the car and, and they look at one another and they say, where’s Kurt? And my dad looks at my mom and says, well, I thought you had him. He’s only three. And my mom looks at my dad and says, he’s a boy. I thought he went with the guys. And then they said, when’s the last time you saw him when we divided up? And, and I mean, you can just imagine the panic as a parent. It’s been three hours with a 3-year-old that you have not seen in a theme park.

And so they got all kinds of emotions. Eventually they find the child lost and found. And I vividly remember, I mean, there there’s three parts of the story that I vividly remember the emotion. But I remember the moment my dad walked in the room, mainly because by then most of the other kids are gone. Like they’re all getting picked up, picked up, picked up. And I remember just bursting into tears and running to my dad. And, and so the three parts of that that I just, I mean they’re ingrained in my memory. I remember the feeling of being lost. I remember the emotion in that room. And then I remember the moment that that in three-year-old brain, I was saved. And, and I will never forget that for the rest of my life. And I can just imagine that, that the Israelites, when they come outta Egypt, they have those same emotions.

They say we were slaves and now we are free. And there were so many things that happened and they said, we don’t ever want to forget what it is that God has done for us. And so from generation to generation to generation, through story and through song, they ingrain it into their identity as a people to say that God redeemed us. And so now Jesus shows up on the scene and Jesus is taking the story and all of the story he’s pointing back to and he’s saying, Hey, this is true. But then he’s also connecting it to himself. And Jesus was a Jew, a a as a matter of fact, at Christmas time, you wouldn’t know. Just a kind of a funny side note Jesus definitely did not celebrate Christmas ’cause you know, it was him <laugh>. But Jesus did celebrate Hanukkah like Jesus. Jesus was a Jewish boy.

It talks about the feast of deliverance that he was in Jerusalem during the Feast of J feast of Deliverance. So he would, he would’ve celebrated Hanukkah as a kid. So, so all the Jewish festivities that we see in the Old Testament, they were part of Jesus’s culture and identity. And so he’s sitting in the last supper and, and part of the, the, the, the heart behind the Seder meal, the Passover meal were these four cups of wine. So the four cups of wine were the cup of sanctification, the cup of deliverance, the cup of redemption, and the cup of praise. So you can just imagine now he’s at a table. Now, what would’ve been different is this table’s way too high for the table that they would’ve been at. It’s also probably way too small, probably probably significantly wider because of how many people, but it would’ve been lower to the ground ’cause they’re sitting on the ground.

But each person would’ve had four different cups. And the reason that I chose these cups is because definitely historically accurate, according to Indiana Jones that’s, that’s what he chose. And he was right probably most likely they would’ve been stone cups. They could have been ceramic cups, they also could have been wooden cups, but most likely they would’ve been ceremonial stone cups that they would’ve been using during the Passover meal. And so each person would’ve had these four different cups. And so as the meal would progress, a lot of the meal was telling this story, the story of redemption, the story of God bringing us outta captivity, the story of God bringing us out of Egypt. And so you would have this first cup that they would start with, and then they continue to tell a story, and then they go to the second cup and they continue to tell a story.

And then they’d have the meal. And the meal had all these specific different elements that were helping to recount the story. And so they would eat parts of the meal would be sweet to remind them of moments of praise, and then parts of the meal would be bitter to remind them of the bitterness of slavery. And they, they had salt water, they would dip things in. So that there were this, this poignant feel to it how they would eat horse radish. Because if you eat pure raw horse radish, it causes you to cry. And so there’s a part of it that intentionally was causing them to weep and remember. And so the middle was the meal. And then after the meal would be these two more cups, the cup of redemption in the cup of praise. And so everything was revolving around the cups. Now we miss this part of the story.

‘Cause Every time Jesus is talking about a cup, we assume it’s just one cup because probably you don’t have many meals where you’ve got four cups at the table. And, and even some of you are like, I can’t imagine the number of dishes that we would do if, if we had four cups for every kid at the table. But there’s all this symbolism that is happening. And the reason they use four cups comes from a verse out of Exodus. So here’s what it says in Exodus chapter six, all four cups, the meaning comes from this one passage. It says, say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I’ll deliver you from slavery to them. And I’ll redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment, I’ll take you to be my people and I’ll be your God.

And you shall know that I’m the Lord your God who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptian. So, so let’s break down that verse and see how it connects to each cup. So the first cup is the cup of sanctification. During this cup, they would have this ceremonial cleansing, this idea that this meal is sacred and holy. And so we’re gonna have a ceremonial hand washing. Actually, it happened two different times during the Passover meal. Now interestingly, what’s the other hand washing that happens in the upper room? It’s when Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. Most scholars would say they think that that was connected to this cup of sanctification, that Jesus is taking some symbols that already exist and then he’s helping take one step further in all those symbols. And so from Exodus, this cup comes from this idea of I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

This cup also marks the beginning of the meal. So it is setting this meal apart as holy. But also here’s the connection that Jesus ultimately is the one who brings us out of, not from Egypt, but from sin. And so this first cup is starting to help get the, the disciples through all of his teaching, pointing back to seeing what God did in the Old Testament. But also Jesus is drawing this line to himself. Then the next cup is the cup of deliverance. During the cup of deliverance, they would tell the 10 plagues that happened in Egypt, how God is bringing them out of slavery. And part of the way that he does that is through these different plagues to help the Egyptians let them go. It comes from this phrase, I will deliver you from slavery to them. This one is drunk after recounting the Exodus story.

So this is when there’s a story. And likely it wasn’t just, just simply told likely it was this dramatic retelling of the story. It also would be the first part of praise. So there would be these songs that they would be singing from the Jewish hymnal, which is the Book of Psalms. You’ve probably got a copy of it now. They would sing really the first half of the, the halel. Now the halel is Psalms one 13 through one 18. So they’d kind of sing the first part of it. And then Jesus doesn’t just tell the story of deliverance. And there is this backdrop. There’s this understanding that he is the story of deliverance, that he is the deliverer. So, so this cup would end with talking about the moment when the angel of death goes over Egypt and they have a Passover lamb. So they would have to take a male lamb without blemish, with no broken bones.

They would kill that lamb. They would take the blood of that lamb and they would put it on the doorposts of their house for the angel of death to pass over them. They had to have that blood. So, so Jesus, as he’s telling the story of Delores, he’s connecting the dots that he is that lamb. And so then after the second cup, they would have the mule of the lamb. As a side note, that’s just interesting. We we’re not sure if they had lamb or not. It doesn’t ever mention a lamb. So some scholars would say, intentionally they don’t have a lamb. ’cause Jesus pointing to the fact that he himself is the lamb. But some scholars would say, no, they probably did eat a lamb. We don’t know. So then he goes on to the third cup, the cup of redemption.

This is gonna be the moment that when we’re reading and Jesus gives us the Lord’s supper, this is the moment that he’s drinking from that cup. That would’ve been the cup that he held up. And this comes from that phrase in Exodus when he says, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. This cup is drunk after the meal, during the blessing. This is the central cup of the evening. So the whole evening is really all around this idea of the cup of redemption. In addition to that, the New Testament idea of redemption is a little bit different than you and i’s idea of redemption for the most part, probably our culture’s idea of redemption is a biblical one because so much of our culture comes from Christian roots. But the New Testament idea of redemption would’ve been the idea of a slave that is at auction.

Someone comes in and purchases that slave for a cost for a price, and then sets that slave free. They have been redeemed. That’s, that’s the picture of redemption. Now, slavery in the first century looked very different than, than our kind of thought of slavery. We tend to think of slavery and it’s so ingrained with what happened a few hundred years ago in our, our country. But in the first century, slavery was not about race. It was not about ethnicity. That one third of all of Rome were slaves. One, the two ways that you ended up being a slave are one, if you committed a crime, you could be put in a slave. And two, if you had a debt that you could not pay. So if you had this big loan out and you couldn’t pay back your loan, then they could put you into a debtor’s person.

They they could sell you on the slave market until you paid off that debt. So this idea of redemption is, is you or me as a slave being up for auction, God purchasing us at a cost and setting us free. And then, then lastly, after the cup of redemption is when you get to this cup of praise. So this is the result of it. The result of what God has done is looking back and saying, Hey, we can’t help but praise God for what he’s done for us. That comes from that phrase, I will take you to be my people and I will be your God. This is drug after the second part of the Hillel. So they’re singing these songs of praises celebrating God’s completed work of redemption in connection to that, the cup of praise A couple times Jesus says that he’s not gonna drink from the cup.

Why is that? Jesus says in Matthew 26, 29, I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the wine until that day when I drink it new with you and my father’s kingdom. He’s talking about heaven specifically, he’s talking about in Revelation chapter 19 verses six through nine. That’s the supper of the lamb. Now this is the, this idea that Jesus pointed ahead that one day all of God’s promises will be fulfilled. So, so that’s, that’s kind of the end part, the hope part. But let’s go back to the cup of redemption from him. That, that in Luke 22, verse 20, when Jesus says this, and likewise the cup after they had eaten saying, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. So, so the cup of redemption, the, the, the disciples, they would’ve spent their whole life every year they would’ve been at a Passover meal celebrating the Passover meal.

And so Jesus is doing the Passover meal with him. And then he changes the verbiage. He’s saying, I’m not just drinking the cup of redemption, pointing back to what God has done. Jesus says, I’m giving you a new covenant. Now that that language he uses connects directly back to one passage in the Old Testament, it comes outta Jeremiah. So this idea of the new covenant comes from this. It says, behold the days are coming declares the Lord. When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand and bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. Instead, he says, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days declares the Lord, I’ll put my law within them and I’ll write it on their hearts.

So instead of stone tablets, he said, it’s, it’s written on our hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother say, know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest declares the Lord. Then it ends with him saying, for I will forgive their iniquity and I’ll remember their sin no more. So let’s unpack it for a second. ’cause There’s something really beautiful and amazing if we don’t miss it. God is saying, I I’m sending a new covenant. Jesus is saying that he is the new covenant. And and it’s saying it’s for all people. And he’s also saying that it’s personal. He says that it’s written on not a stone tablet, but instead on our heart. You see, I think one of the biggest challenge challenges that we face in an Easter season is for many of us, you’ve been to a lot of Easter services. For, for most of us, probably you, you say, well, I’ve been to dozens of Easter services. And so because of that, it can kind of start to change our perception of it. We, we can kinda lose the backdrop. We can lose the, the grandeur we can use, lose

The glory of what it is all about. That

We go through the motions and it’s just one more service and one more thing.

But what the

Author of Jeremiah says

That

Jesus is trying to intentionally connect us back to

Is

That the new covenant

Is a

Personal relationship between us and God

Of his

Redemption.

That

I did that when I was a kid. I remember that moment of being lost.

And, and

As Christians, we, we need to remember the moment of being lost. Remember the need that we have

For Jesus,

Remember the season of wondering. But, but never forget the moment that He, he

Saved us,

That he redeemed us, that he,

He purchased us for a price. That’s what you

See in the New Testament, this language around that.

Peter says that we were bought with a price. Paul says that the wages

Of sin is death.

This is what we deserve. But God, Jesus

Redeems us away from that. And so here’s my challenge. My homework for each and every one of us

Is

How do we make Easter personal? There’s an acronym, I lived a learned a long time ago called Self.

So, so how do I

Prepare my self

For the day? How

Do I prepare

Myself for Easter?

And it stands for this, it

Stands for Stop

Empty Love and Fill. And so my challenge for you for the next two weeks is,

Is take

A moment every day and try to

Do this.

Take a moment to stop. And

That’s the hardest part. The the other three are actually pretty easy. The hardest is to stop. How do I stop

The busyness and get alone with God?

Maybe for you, you

Say, okay, for the next two weeks, every day I’m gonna roll outta bed and I’m gonna hit my knees and I’m gonna start with prayer. And then you start by just saying, God, empty me of me. Empty me of my sin. God forgive me of my sin. Empty me of my sin, nature and my human nature,

Less

Of me. And then we just give him praise and adoration.

Say, God, I love you. And I’m so grateful for what Jesus

Did for me on the cross that

He

Atone for my sins. The end was saying, God, fill me.

Fill me with your Holy Spirit.

Fill me, empty me of me and fill me with more and more of

You.

Make

Our prayer. God,

How do I make Easter not just an event, not just something that I walk through, but something that is personal and my relationship with

God

For my wife and I Easter

Is

A really sensitive time of year.

If you’re

Relatively new, you probably don’t know that, that we have three living kids.

But we had a fourth daughter eight years ago.

Her name was Lane and she passed

Away.

She was born six. She passed away when she was four and a half months old. She had a liver

Issue

That ultimately she got an infection and died from. But

The

Weekend that she passed away

Was Easter

Weekend. And so I remember vividly on Good Friday,

I

Was a pastor on <inaudible> Church and it was a traditional service. And we, we had the throne chairs. Maybe you grew

Up at

A church that had the throne chairs, those big chairs in the back of the stage. And so the pastors

Would

Sit on those, those

Chairs, the whole service.

And so I had done the welcome and then there was this,

This

Special song that they were doing right

Before

The, the message was about to

Be preached.

And that morning early that morning, I I, I talked

To the

Hospital and things were in a really good state. And then I had gotten a message on my watch that simply said, emergency with Lane, have to go to the hospital now. And so I just got

Up and walked off stage, which probably looked really awkward.

And I, I I drove

Straight to the hospital

And it was a very long seven, two hours.

But, but she, she passed

Away on Saturday. So

You got Good Friday,

She passes away on Saturday, and then we’re, we’re rolling right into Easter Sunday.

And so, so it’s, it’s

This challenge with Easter for us because on the one side, there is

A heartache that will always be

Connected to Easter in our story,

But also there’s

A looking forward

To the hope of Easter

That is intricately connected to

Our story.

One of my best friends growing up was a guy named Philip Scott.

He’s a

Pediatrician in Dallas. And so for that four and a half months, I talked to

Philip almost every

Day on the phone because he, he was translating all the medical stuff that we were going through. So I’d say, Hey, here’s what’s going on and here’s what’s happening. And, and he spent time researching. ’cause There there was just some very odd medical things that, that she was dealing with. And after she passed

Away

Philip sent my wife and I, this letter, it’s

A letter that he wrote to

Lane, and it says this, dear Lane, I met you once when you first moved to Texas Children’s Hospital. I’m a friend of your mom and dad’s, and I also happen to

Be a pediatrician who takes care of sick

Children in the hospital.

I’ve thought

A lot about you since you were born, and I’ve prayed for you. Often. When I initially started to

Write this letter,

It was going to be an apology. Doctors

Have a bad habit

Of feeling like death is a failure. But of course, an apology would sound ridiculous

To you.

You are more free and healthy than doctors could have ever made you.

Instead, this

Letter is a thank you letter. Thank you for making me a better pediatrician. Often I find myself wrapped up in the details of

Vitals, lab values,

Diagnosis, and treatments, and my patients become less personal. I become disconnected from the fears and pains and frustrations of those whom I responsible.

You,

However, made it personal. You are not defined by lab

Values, tests

Proposed diagnosises or treatment plans. You are my friend’s, precious

Little

Girl, and it hurt to see them hurt.

This is

The essence of compassion.

Thank

You for making it real to me again. But more importantly, thank you for the reminder of the

Power of what

Jesus accomplished on Easter.

He has

Risen and you or risen with him. Your mom and dad could not have preached it more eloquently.

Love

Philip Scott. Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father and I pray that Easter

Would become personal to each and every one of us, that we wouldn’t just go through the motions of that you are a personal God, that Jesus steps outta heaven. He understands with compassion, our pain and our suffering. And his proclamation is that he redeems us. That he is the Passover lamb, that he shed his blood for us on our behalf. God, that there is this great hope of bringing this out of captivity, out of into life. And that is the message of Easter. So, God, I pray that Easter and these next two weeks, we can make it personal. We can make it real, that our lives would be different. We would live different because of you as the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen.