We just don't understand_Easter Edition

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Some things I don’t understand.  If a dear church lady was still with us today, she would be happy that her husband came back to trusting Jesus and her son is seeking Him also, but why did it take her dying to make it happen? One of the quietest men in our congregation was one of our greatest supporters. A son who took care of his mom for 15⁺ years is left to find a job after her death. Hours of time are spent on people who lie about their financial situation, begging and trying to steal money. My Dad spent his life being away from us, but then at the end begged me to be by him. I’ve spent months now asking myself why she had to die. I never imagined myself looking at a painting in my living room of my child who wasn’t living.  I don’t understand.

When we read scripture we realize that even the disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was about to do those days leading up to His death & resurrection. When I’m in the middle of struggling with personal sin, it doesn’t make sense to me what is happening or why I’m being attacked.  So often we want to put life in compartments that have meaning - this is happening because of… or this will happen as a result of… It is one way we try to make sense out of it all.

Our life was never meant to be confusing or not understandable. The life we were supposed to have – what God originally planned for us – was so much greater than what we get. What we get is a life stained by sin.  We can mourn the life we were supposed to have, but then we have to move into the place of accepting that this life is different, and find out what God intends for it now. Make sense? Not really, because no one understands what life was supposed to look like before we sinned. Honestly, most days we spend so much time on the sin in front of us – the poor behavior, illness, or pain – that we forget about what God truly intended.

Now we are at Easter.  For me as a kid, Easter was new suits and egg hunts. It was a 5 am wake up call and a service where the sun blinded my eyes. As a pastor, Easter is a reminder of what I can’t fix – the sin, the hurts, and the pains.  It is a reminder that no matter what happened this year that I couldn’t understand, God does. He knows.  He understands.  In that there is peace. I know I talk about peace all the time, but truly, is there any other way to deal with this world? I can’t make sense of all these crazy things that happen every year, and then I get to Easter and it reminds me that I don’t have to because Jesus does. He loves me through the toughest things in life and provides the answer. The answer is Him. The answer then was an empty tomb that nobody quite understood.  The answer today is the same empty tomb – a tomb meant for death that instead signifies life.

This year Easter seems a little more meaningful to me.  Though I still don’t understand Maddy’s death, I know that Jesus came to die, and rise again, so that my daughter can live!  Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!