Easter Breakdown 2018.

Each year I can't help but try to breakdown the Easter message into as simple terms as possible.  Each year I end up writing pages and pages of tangents, quotes, metaphors trying to get to something that is simple, but hard.  

It's 2018, here goes:

The World is awful, often without Hope.
Yet, our hearts long for Love and Peace and our spirits seek Justice in an unjust world.
What in this world would make us think Love, Peace and Justice are things to be desired?
The answer:  There is nothing from THIS world that brings these desires out of us, but it is the Creator of all that has written these other worldly expectations into our very DNA.

Why Christ Matters:

Things are not as they should be, yet we retain these expectations, working towards them.  Something had to come from the outside the world to infect the world with the power to deliver on these strange expectations.  Jesus Christ came from outside in, from perfection into chaos.  To Teach?  Yes.  To Heal?  Yes.  But more comprehensively to display the Kingdom, his Kingdom on Earth.  

Why it's tricky:

The world is awful, and also, if we are honest, so are we.  Each of us possesses not only Hope, but also the ability to dismantle Hope.  It is this fundamental nastiness that prevents the presence of our perfect Creator.  What balances the equation?  Payment.  Christ's death is the payment for our global, local and personal awfulness.  

Overcoming:

In his Death, we have payment.  In his Resurrection, we have hope.  If he only died for our sins, that would leave us with no debts, but also with nothing to look forward to.  The Risen Christ calls us into action.  Though he has physically ascended, we are strengthened by his Spirit to do his work until he returns again.  We work for Love, Peace and Justice...this is what we are made for.

Timeline:
Perfect Creation. Broken world.  Personal failure.  A rescuing Savior from another world.  Redemption and Calling.  Everything made new.

You can make a solid rational argument that the story of Christianity, the Good News of Jesus is the most comprehensive explanation for why things are the way they are and why we continue to Hope.  But we don't make decisions entirely based on rational thinking. It's emotional.  It's painful. There are things that prevent us from hearing the call of our Creator.  I heard the Gospel 100's of times before it took.  I can't say exactly why it did take.  But I know this:  I am Loved and that Love will endure forever.  If that sounds good, it might be time to take a good long look at Jesus.