Easter Isn't about Church
I pastored a church. So, Easter Sunday is obviously a big deal.
I pastored a church. So, it would seem prudent to some to leverage Easter to get people to come to the church where I served.
If pastors could pump up the importance of the local church, even peddle a bit of hard-nosed pressure and a dose of guilt to ensure people keep coming, give money, and realize the importance of the staff, especially the pastor, then they could establish job security. Who doesn’t want that?
Maybe a positive way to get the same results would be to demonstrate the church’s value over other churches for sure, but certainly above not going at all. And if we could just garner affection by making attendees laugh, reminding them how good they are, or giving them a gift card to a coffee shop, they might subconsciously get attached, and we would all be happy.
I know I would. Or maybe not.
If I could say anything that I believe about Easter, it would be this:
Everyone can experience the personal love, grace, beauty, and empowerment of Jesus without coming to church, our church, or anyone else’s church.
It’s not about church.
Easter is about Jesus and his resurrection. But before that happened, a lot of things happened in history. There was the creation and the fall, and then the large boat Noah made to float without Gorilla tape, but that's too far back. I’m thinking more about the week before Jesus was crucified and the day he was.
I’m looking at their version of church and how messed up it was.
The Temple was a place where many people genuinely worshiped God. But it was also a place where the Priests manipulated people, posed in their self-righteous garb, and puffed up their egos.
Some Temple-goers were abused, most were controlled, and all in the name of God, but really in the misuse of God’s name for the pleasure of the leaders. Jesus was going to fix that before he caught the redeye to heaven.
As Jesus came to Jerusalem in his last week with the shadow of the cross cruising toward him, he went to the Temple. He knew what he would find, and he found it.
God had taught people to give sacrifices of different kinds, but the Pharisees had discovered a way to turn the heart-felt giving and the humble need for forgiveness into a profitable business.
Jesus didn’t like it, and he said so. He even grabbed their cash registers and display tables and tossed them. Clearly, the Temple needed a fixer-upper, one of those Waco-style demolish jobs.
That shouldn’t have been a shocker to anyone. Jesus challenged the religious leaders in their faux spiritual roles for three years. He hadn’t physically made a mess of things, but surely they saw that coming.
His point was clear then, and he might want to make it today. If he were physically visiting, he might flip a few kiosks in some of our local churches this Sunday. (That is a Messiah thing, however, and I don’t recommend any of us try it. We’re too likely to be driven by selfish and prideful motives. Let’s not judge other churches. Let’s clean our tables.)
By the time we get to crucifixion Friday, we see the Priests and Pharisees mocking the King of the world, the one who established the priesthood and the Temple. Here's how Matthew explained it,
In the same way the chief Priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matthew 27:41-43)
The words are terrible, but the context is even worse. Jesus is hanging on the cross, dying because of being falsely accused, dying by his choice (see John 10:17-18) for us, for them.
Two verses before this, Matthew records the bums of the crowd walking by and jeering at Jesus.
One verse after this, the disciple tells us the robbers who were crucified with Jesus (guilty criminals, I might add) are also taunting Jesus. The Pharisees, the guys who were supposed to be the people’s religious leaders and humble servants, are acting exactly like the pagan cowards who yell negative things when their victim is helpless.
They served in God’s name without being on God’s agenda. Now, they boldly reject Jesus, the Son of God, and then mosey back to their Temple.
It wasn’t supposed to be like that. It still isn’t.
Many remarkable things happened when Jesus died, but something miraculous, symbolic, and transforming happened in the Temple. The spectacular curtain that hung across the entrance to the Priest-only inner sanctuary was torn from the top to the bottom. The Temple and its perverted leaders were done.
N.T. Wright says it this way,
“Jesus’ death is the beginning of the end for the system that had opposed him, that had refused to heed his summons, that had denied its vocation to be the light of the world, the city set on a hill to which the nations would flock.” (Matthew for Everyone)
Jesus is now our Great High Priest (Hebrews 10:21). He has offered the final sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:12, 26). But there's more.
Everyone who follows Jesus is a Priest.
“You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…. You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:5, 9)
Priests! Wow.
Each Christ-follower is now his or her own Priest. Yes, you, if you are a believer, have become a Priest.
That reveals our privilege and purpose.
At Easter, we celebrate all that Jesus did for us. Without his death and resurrection, we could not be forgiven of our sins and given the privilege of having a loving, personal, conversational, and missional relationship with him.
But, he didn’t save us to go to church.
He didn’t tear down the curtain so that we could give our money to pay people in their priestly garb or pastoral flannel to repair it.
He opened the door for us to walk through, move close to HIM, and enjoy life with HIM without any structure or religion and certainly without some priest or pastor getting in the way.
Yes, the church is important (very important).
Christ is the head of it. He is building it. He calls leaders to serve and train believers. The church is believers gathered to be encouraged and equipped. It's our team for our mission.
But Easter isn’t about the church as much as it's about Christ.
It's about what he did so that we can be with him.
Don’t go to church and forget about going to Christ. That's what Pharisees do. That's what religious people do who don't have a relationship. Christians are Priests with privilege and purpose.
We can personally know Jesus and love him and live with him and for him.
I encourage you to experience Jesus personally this Easter and every day after. To walk into the inner sanctuary. To bow and worship, to laugh and be loved. To learn and be changed. To go and to offer life.
That’s what Easter is all about. Jesus longs to be with you. Happy Easter.