Amazing Grace

We are in the midst of Holy Week. Spring started a week ago and Passover started at the end of last week. Every one of these events represents, to each of us, new beginnings. Spring raised its head victoriously with a number of warm days and enjoyable nights. If you noticed, the grass is turning green, many of the bulbs are up and lifting their heads as they break the surface of the ground, showing us spring has arrived. Even the bees have been seen flying about looking for some nectar. Did you know that one bee collects 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime?

Passover is also the evidence of new life. For our Jewish friends it commemorates a new beginning and a life that was saved by the hand of God. It started their joyful walk to freedom from bondage. Through Moses, Pharaoh had no choice but to let them go. Yes, I watched "The Ten Commandments" many times.

And now, it's Holy Week. It's all about the last week of Jesus earthly life. Last Sunday was Palm Sunday. It is akin to Passover to us. At that moment in time, Jesus was the focus of Passover. This would be the first and only time; Jesus was recognized for who He was, the promised Saviour Messiah. It must have been quite the event. The whole city heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. Word spread like wild fire over the whole city to the point almost everyone went to meet him as He rode into town on a donkey just as Zechariah prophesied 600 years before. They shouted and put palm branches as a red carpet for Him. And I can only imagine each and every one of the disciples was screaming with a fist pump 'YES'.

In quick succession the tide will turn with mob mentality. Jesus goes from being the King of Kings to being put to death for no reason except people's desire for power, prestige, and influence. The disciples hunkered down in the Upper Room, until. . . Until, "Then Came the Morning". Yes, Easter arrived and with it came grace and forgiveness and Jesus paying in full our sentence to death for our sins.

It's a new beginning. We have been forgiven. Easter is that first day of a New Life. Jesus came and died for our sins and in one act of obedience to God, He paid the price and we have been set free. When He rose from the dead and conquered it and gave us the same freedom.

Chris Tomlin said it best when he wrote a chorus to John Newton's 'Amazing Grace':

My chains are gone,

I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy rains

Unending love, Amazing Grace

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

Rob