Today is Super Bowl Sunday for Christians! Yup, it’s Easter. The day when the multitudes of people, believers and pseudo-believers alike will assemble in pretty new clothes and frilly new hats to celebrate…just what are we celebrating? The risen Lord?
Why don’t we just for this one time be honest with ourselves? Historically, two days ago the ultimate display of human pride was displayed when they/we murdered God on a cross. No, I’m not going to sanitize this for you. Humanity, believing they/we knew what was right, determined through malicious intent and devious means arrested, detained, judged, flogged to the point of death and then ceremoniously hung the Son of God upon the most demented torture device ever conceived simply to keep order in the city at a time of heightened unrest.
Three days later an empty tomb awakens a city which spreads panic throughout the governing body and the people who witnessed the prior mockery. This is the day, today, which we celebrate. Sure we’ll shout praises to a risen Lord, sing anthems to His greatness yet not truly understand the real meaning of today. We won’t relive the panic of suddenly finding out that an innocent victim who they/we put to death is now alive to confess their/our guilt. No, we won’t cry out to God to forgive us in our complicity in the travesty of justice. We’ll say a few amens and rush off to the ham banquet which awaits us.
Why do we truly need to celebrate this day? Forgiveness and mercy. At no time did God respond like us. He could have, and should have, cleaned our clock for what happened. But He didn’t. Having mercy, He forgave just as His Son asked. Certainly Jesus could have rubbed everyone’s nose in the dung of their hypocrisy, but he didn’t. He responded as usual with compassion and love.
Today is not a celebration of a risen King as much as commemoration that we didn’t truly get what we deserve from that King. However, who we did get, had us along. Go enjoy your ham.
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