By Luke Birge
I have been hearing a lot about how we are in an unprecedented time. People are locked in their homes and unsure about what the present and the future holds. I was listening to NPR this weekend and the reporter said over and over again, "This is a time unlike any other." Then in a kind of throw in, "...and Christians for the first time will not be able to meet in various churches to celebrate Easter."
For whatever reason I felt chills, then started laughing and blurted out without thinking, "Well that's just not true." I was at a stop light and asked out loud, "God is that true?"
Suddenly I thought about Easter. There was another Easter that was very much like this one actually. So much the same that I think it may NOT be a coincidence.
On the first day of the week after the crucifixion of Jesus the disciples and the followers of Jesus were huddled together and hiding in a locked room. Interesting. What were they hiding from? Why were they locked together in their homes? Two reasons: One that is known and one that is unknown.
The first reason was known to them. Their leader, savior king, messiah and teacher had been very publicly humiliated, beaten, put on display, physically shamed, destroyed and then killed. This was done through the power of two organizations. The first was the religious. The Jewish leaders had made this happen through their own power and influence. They had set the trials up, incited the crowds and used the scriptures as justification for His execution.
The second was the Roman Empire. They were and still might be the most powerful country that has ever existed. Their authority to rule was unquestioned as shown in their ability to carry out legal proceedings and then public executions. It is hard to overstate the power and influence the Romans had. Both these groups had moved against Jesus and now the disciples and followers were hiding for their very lives. Which brings us to their fear of the unknown: Would these unstoppable powers kick down the locked doors and execute each and every follower of Jesus? At any moment this could happen. To make matters more insecure the disciples had been betrayed by one of their own: Judas. No doubt they wondered if there was another in their midst who would do the same. So they isolated themselves. Isolated and hiding.
Isn't that interesting? So here we are 2,000 years later. Isolated and hiding due to the known (our own governmental powers ordering us to do this) and the unknown (this virus that we cannot see that may be in our midst but we just don't know for sure). Here it is: Easter. The first day of the week after Good Friday.
Yet 2,000 years ago something happened that I believe is happening again right now. Not only was the tomb empty. But Jesus went TO his people bypassing locked doors and driving fear out. He went to his people and found them where they were. More than that he did not even bother going through the locked door. Do you know why? Because Jesus IS the door. There is no wall or barrier or force that can contain Him from going to where He wasn't to go. We know that because the ultimate barrier--the thing that each one of us even now are always aware of: death--He defeated. Death could not and will not hold Him down. It cannot keep us from Him and His love. The book of Romans hinges on this point. Because of the resurrection, we know with confidence that nothing can keep us from the living Jesus Christ. No government order, no invisible virus, no locked doors and no other device set up to keep God's people separate. So in the same way that Jesus came to His disciples, He comes to us. Passed our locked doors and our fear and our expectations.
He doesn't care about the "way we need to do things" because HE IS THE WAY. HE IS THE WAY WE DO THINGS.
It was my prayer yesterday that each of you and our families and church families encountered Him in a new way. If you didn't, its ok because He is still near. He is still coming to us.
I believe two things are happening right now and I hope this encourages you.
Something the enemy meant for harm, God can and is using for good. This is yet another way He is actively making a spectacle of the devices of the enemy. One way this is happening: people used to (even a month ago) leave their homes to go to church and in a very literal sense they would go to church to meet with God and the His people. Now...through the online meetings God is entering their homes. I have so much excitement about the spirituality I am seeing now because people are practicing their faith in their homes with their families.
I believe right now because of #1 there is a "great reset" happening. An opportunity is being given to us. I wrote before about being beacons of hope and I believe that, but I realize I didn't really understand what else was going on. I don't know about you, but all my routines and habits and rhythms--all the ways I have been filling my life have been altered and or sent away. Things have slowed down. We are being given a reset. We are being given an opportunity to rebuild what our day to day lives are. This time will pass and we will be able to go "back to normal." For myself it is now my prayer that as Jesus comes into my home, He creates and builds a "new normal." Where I didn't have as much time to spend in the scripture I have been given time. Where I didn't have time to pray through various lists and situations, I have time. Where I didn't have time to sit with my wife and kids and call my family, now I have time. Where I couldn't hear the voice of the Father because there was so much noise...now there is quiet. We have an opportunity to start rebuilding. What we do in our homes and how we rebuild will inevitably impact what happens as these times of isolation are lifted. Let's not be praying for things to go back to normal. Instead let's think about Easter in this way: It was a great reset.
The disciples had expectations and lives with Jesus before he died. They gave him everything. Then he was killed. After 3 days He went to them and instead of going back to what their lives were, He breathed the Spirit on them and EVERYTHING changed. A new normal was created. There was no going back to what it was before. We can see it in the book of Acts.
We all had expectations of what life was going to be before COVID and this Easter. I know I did. Now we need to start praying and expecting that Jesus is going to meet with each one of us and start the New Normal. Things are not ever going to be like they were. Honestly, I don't know about you but in a lot of ways I don't want them to be. I want to be filled with the Spirit of God and to start building His Kingdom His way and I want that to be the New Normal.
I am going to start practicing this in my own time, with my family and then writing about it and sending it to you and whomever else the Lord puts on my heart.
It is my prayer for you as you read this that God starts the fire in you right now. That he starts to clear your vision on what your life could look like now as He breathes on it and as the Risen King Jesus steps into your locked room and says, "Do not be afraid." I pray that in your body, your home, your family, church and in community that Jesus would open our eyes to what "normal" could be and should be.
I hope this encourages and blesses you.