Some of you are thinking to yourselves: “One hour? I don’t have time for that!” Me neither—it’s going to be difficult for me to make the time, but that’s the point. And my hat is off to those of you who are thinking, “One hour? That seems so short!”

What about you? Are you fasting from anything, or doing anything special for Lent this year?

On one side of the story is Pharaoh, refusing to free the oppressed Hebrew people… even after Egypt is afflicted by horrifying plagues. On the other side is Moses with a divine ultimatum: let God’s people go or face God’s wrath. Can human pride and stubbornness prevail over God’s will?

Ultimately, God’s will is done, but Pharaoh’s continued refusal to listen to God has terrible results for his country and his own household. It isn’t until the tenth plague that Pharaoh relents. It claims the lives of every first-born child in Egypt, including Pharaoh’s own son. Death spreads across all of Egypt, with one important exception: any household whose doorpost is marked with the blood of a lamb is spared.

The story of Passover is closely intertwined with our Easter celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Passover imagery is seen throughout the Easter story, Jesus himself taking on the role of the sacrificed Passover lamb. Pharaoh’s refusal to obey God mirrors our own spiritual lives without Christ: left to our own devices, our recalcitrance leads us to spiritual death. But when we trust in the power of the blood of the Passover Lamb, we find life.

Our stubborn refusal to listen to God may not have the outwardly dramatic results that Pharaoh’s did. But how often has a spiritually hardened heart led to even more heartache in your life?

There’s nothing spiritually magical about the observation of Easter, but it’s a good time to assess ourselves. Is there any part of your heart that you’ve hardened against God? What do you need to do in order to soften your heart?

Is your church doing an Easter pageant this year?

Share your thoughts!

If you’re the kind of person that connects with drama, and you’re looking to spend some serious time preparing for Good Friday, you might check out a recent offering from The Bible Experience called the Scriptural Way of the Cross. It uses prayers and audio dramatizations of the Biblical account to walk through the story of Easter from the Garden of Gethsemane to the Resurrection. It’s a variation on the Stations of the Cross, and a great way to frame your reflections on the final stage of Jesus’ ministry on Earth.

• Read more about the Stations of the Cross
• Walk through the Scriptural Way of the Cross
• More about The Bible Experience

How is your church incorporating the arts in their services this weekend?

If you thought that was interesting, you’ll like the Twelve Voices of Easter, which gives the same treatment to the Easter story: twelve characters from the original Easter story all sharing their perspective on the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Twelve Voices drama is particularly interesting in that it gives a voice to some of the lesser-known characters of the story—famous faces like Judas and Pilate are there of course, but also the less-familiar Caiaphas, Cleopas, and the anonymous centurion.

With about six weeks left until Easter, you could listen through the entire Easter story at a rate of two “voices” each week. Tune in and hear a fresh take on the Bible’s most celebrated event!

But even if you aren’t already a reader, I recommend paying Slice of Infinity a visit each day during Lent. They’ve published some excellent reflections on Lent and Easter and why this is such a powerful part of the church year. Here’s a bit from today’s entry, on how Lent challenges us:

The time leading up to the promise of Easter and the hope of resurrection is something like the early signs of spring. Indications of new life spring forth all around us, each with the shocking call that we must prepare ourselves for what is coming, reflect on the place of hope via the road of suffering, and face the forces and temptations that come at us along the way. It is not always easy to prepare our hearts for the Cross of Christ, but the changing of seasons is upon us, and God beckons us forward. Henri Nouwen describes the tension eloquently: “The season of Lent, during which winter and spring struggle with each other for dominance, helps us in a special way to cry out for God’s mercy.” For forty contemplative days, the season of Lent calls us to the wakeful awareness that we are human, we are dust, and we are falling short, but that there is a story reaching beyond our lifetimes, our deaths, and our shortcomings, speaking new life where death stings and tears flow.

The latest reading is always available here, and you can browse back through the archives here. If you want to start with their Lent reflections, here’s the Ash Wednesday Slice that kicks it off.

Lent and Easter may not have the massive culture presence that Christmas does, but like Christmas, this is a season marked by memorable music. You might not hear it playing at the local mall, but the music of Easter includes some of the church’s most powerful and insightful songs. Easter has always been my personal favorite “musical season” in the church year; I’d like to build on Chris’ last post about music and worship by pointing out some Easter music resources:

• Songsandhymns.org has mp3s and sheet music for eight of the most famous Easter songs (see the Lent/Easter section on that page). Particularly noteworthy are Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended and Christ the Lord is Risen Today. The latter song is a popular one at Easter Sunday services; it’s quite something to hear it sung by an enthusiastic congregation.
• HymnTime.com has a monster list of Easter songs (but beware the auto-playing MIDI music).
• Two years ago, the Vatican released mp3s of several beautiful Lent arrangements by the Musical Chorus of the Sistine Chapel and the Institute of Sacred Music. Despite theological differences between Protestant and Catholic churches, the music can be appreciated by any Christian.
• A reflection about the famous hymn Christ the Lord is Risen Today at Christianity Today. There’s a bit more historical information at the hymn’s Wikipedia entry.
• An interesting essay about ancient Easter songs, many of which inspired the modern Easter hymns we know and love today.

This is the day that tradition calls Maundy Thursday—the day of the Last Supper, the day that Jesus would wash his disciples’ feet; the day of the betrayal. It marks the beginning of the end of Holy Week, the first act in the divine drama that unfolds over the following three days. On Maundy Thursday, we’re getting close to the joyous celebration of Easter—it’s like a tiny speck of light at the end of a tunnel. But the next few days make for a long, bleak tunnel.

Here are two items to help you think through today’s significance:

• The Already Not Yet blog has been posting a series of Easter devotionals that walk through the major scenes of Holy Week. Today they offer a glimpse of the Last Supper—which they note is probably the most awkward social gathering in all of history (how would you react if the guest of honor accused somebody at the table of planning to betray him?). If you’ve not been following their devotional series this week, it’s worth heading over and getting caught up.
• At Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Jill Carattini focuses on one of the most curious events of Maundy Thursday: Jesus’s washing of the disciples’ feet. What is the significance of this act—and why would Jesus choose to do this, of all activities, on the very night he would be betrayed and condemned?

It’s Thursday, and at this point in the Easter drama, things are looking bleak. They’re going to look even worse tomorrow, on Good Friday, when all hope seems to die.

It’s a sobering thought. But as you ponder this, either at home or at a Maundy Thursday church service, don’t forget that Easter is coming.

For Christians, the truth of the resurrection is rather important and worth some serious study.

Answering the question, Can Any scientist today accept that Jesus was resurrected is the ministry of Scibel. The article begins from this assumption:

No one can be certain of all the details of any past event, but here is how it could have happened if all the four accounts are accurate from the viewpoint of their respective sources.

The article is replete with diagrams like the one to the right and does an thorough job of detailing the resurrection from each account given in the bible. If you’ve always wondered how it all happened and why each gospel account seems different this article should help explain some of the reasons why.

From Delve Into Jesus is an article titled, Why did Jesus have to die? The question is an extremely valid one. If Jesus is God and could do all things, then why did he have to die? Here’s the article summary:

When we sin, God’s perfect justice requires that we pay the price. This price is too high for any man to pay for it would require perfect sacrifice, which we cannot do. Jesus Christ took our place and died on the cross to pay the debt because He loves us.

When you read the story of Easter (see yesterday’s post to read it if you’re not familiar with it), what most stands out to you?

The story of Jesus’ betrayal, death, and resurrection is of course packed with interesting and important elements. But what always jumps out at me is the fascinating array of characters who populate this Easter drama. It’s the people of Easter who make the story come alive—and who add to it the ring of authenticity that you wouldn’t get if it were just another moral fable.

Think about the heroes and villains of the Easter story, and you’ll see that this isn’t the black-and-white morality tale you might expect if it were a piece of comforting religious fiction. Instead, we see a cast of very human characters reacting to the presence of Jesus—the story’s only perfectly good character. Some of the “heroes” don’t behave quite as heroically as they should—think of Jesus’ disciples falling asleep in the Garden, or of Peter disowning Christ rather than risk being associated with him. And the villains aren’t exactly brilliant, cackling evil masterminds—think of weak-willed Pilate, guilt-wracked Judas, and the religious leaders terrified that Jesus’ message will erode their own power and influence.

One of the most vivid ways to get to know the characters of Easter is through The Twelve Voices of Easter, an online audio drama from Back to the Bible that lets each of the twelve characters of Easter speak for him or herself. If you’ve read the Easter so many times that it’s started to lose its punch, this is a great way to approach the events of Holy Week from a different angle—with six days left before Easter Sunday, you could listen to two “voices” per day and be done on the big day. Most of the famous Easter characters are present in the drama (Judas, Pilate, Mary Magdalene), but also some of Easter’s less-well-known players, like the centurion and Cleopas.

I fire up the Twelve Voices every year during Holy Week because they shed some extra light on the human hopes, fears, and motivations that run through Easter week. While the Easter story is primarily about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, it’s also the story of ordinary people tainted by sin. They’re everyday sinners like you and me—they’re not diabolically evil; but almost everyone in the Easter story is flawed and broken. Everyone here, hero or villain, needs the salvation Jesus offers. Their presence in the story reminds us that Jesus’ sacrificial death wasn’t carried out just to save humanity on an abstract, cosmic level: Jesus died for the everyday sinners right there around him. The cowardly disciples; the foolish mob; the scheming religious leaders. You and me.