Reading: Mark 16:1-8
Speaker: Tommy Pratt
Congratulations to Paul and Jackie who were Baptised today!
Thoughts on Easter Sunday
Where does this Easter find you? It finds me where I am most nights. With my not-so-little Elliott (he just turned 5 years-old) and we are reading his big-boy Bible. Its illustrations are beautiful. Its gospel message is clear; coherent. It is called the Biggest Story Bible and it is written by American pastor, Kevin DeYoung.
We are sit together on Elliott’s bed, his teeth cleaned and pyjamas on. We have made it all the way in the Biggest Story Bible to the first Easter. To Resurrection Day itself. This is what DeYoung says:
“Jesus knew He was going to die and that He wouldn’t stay dead.
Friday was dark and sad. Saturday was stone-cold silent. But Sunday – the third day – was not just another day or another week. It was another age. A new time had begun. The Biggest Story had turned a page. The world would never be the same…”
It is one of life’s little injustices that only those of us raising kids today get to enjoy the deep truths of modern children’s Bibles. I was fortunate enough to hear DeYoung preach in-person when he visited our old church in Colorado. He taught powerfully to a mostly adult congregation about Old Testament blessings, but in his Biggest Story Bible,DeYoung has no trouble talking to a younger demographic.
Elliott and I read DeYoung’s take on Resurrection Day. Elliott enjoys the pictures of an empty tomb and a bright new dawn. Then the comments start coming. It used to be questions, but now – older and wiser – Elliott tells me why Jesus had to die, and what it means for us that Jesus was raised, and how sad it makes him that Jesus had to suffer so much.
Elliott sees how dark Good Friday was. He senses the eerie silence of Saturday, a day of the week that 5-year-olds associate with beaches, hikes, and playgrounds. Then Elliott moves onto the wonder of what Sunday meant. That it truly was another age. That a page had been turned in God’s story that would never be undone.
So this is where Easter finds me. Listening to big truths from a listen mouth. Easter finds me meditating on Passion week. After driving out the merchants and money changers, “the leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw Jesus’ wonderful miracles and heard even the children in the Temple shouting, ‘Praise God for the Son of David’” (Matt. 21:15).
The King had come. He was in His city, but how did the rulers react? “The leaders were indignant. They asked Jesus, ‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ ‘Yes,’ Jesus replied. ‘Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you praise.’’ (Matt. 21:16).
Jesus knew the Scriptures. He knew that God delights in innocent listeners and curious youths. I could not agree more this Easter season. I see the little footsteps that follow in the wake of my own gospel walk. I feel the daily pressure to lead, but I thank God every day for this privilege.