Dear Brothers and Sisters;
Easter is early this year, within one day of the earliest possible date. For me, that means that my ‘heart-preparation’ for Easter has already been neglected and will have to be condensed into this two week period. I suspect the same thing is true for many of you.
In response I am going to try to do a very brief devotional thought about Easter (or an Easter text) every day. I haven’t organized any kind of progression, I’m just going to follow some Easter rabbit trails. I’m going to send these out as a Trinity News and post them on my blog.
I want to begin where we ended at Bible Immersion Camp this week – the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.
Here’s a link to the parable.
You remember the story: The rich man lives in luxury while Lazarus lives in poverty and misery outside his door. But when they die Lazarus goes to be with Abraham, while the rich man is in torment in Hades. The rich man begs Abraham to send Lazarus to cool his tongue with a bit of water, but Abraham says it cannot be. So the rich man begs him to send Lazarus to his five brothers.
Then the text says “29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ â€
Remember, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. As soon as he gets there he will raise a man named Lazarus from the dead. Coincidence or foreknowledge? Furthermore, this miracle will increase the Pharisee’s resolve to destroy Jesus: even if a man comes back from the dead they will not be convinced.
But of course, there is more to it than that. Within a week after his entry into Jerusalem Jesus himself will be crucified. And three days later he will rise from the dead. And yet even today his resurrection is not enough to convince those who oppose him of their sin, their need to repent and believe.
