Seemed Right at the Time

The lore surrounding various Easter traditions such as egg hunts, egg rolling contests, bunnies, and even the name “Easter” are each varied and hotly debated. I’ll go on record and say I don’t really care all that much about the debates. I know the significance of the resurrection, its essentiality to my faith, and the faith of my family and friends. That’s what I’m focusing on every year at this time.

It Seemed Right at the Time

Many years ago, when my children were young and still in elementary school, I had purchased, for the first time, a bag of these plastic eggs that pop open in the middle so you can put something fun or yummy inside. When the kids were in bed for the night, I worked diligently to fill the plastic eggs with little candy bars or silly toys. Then, thinking I was so clever, I stealthily moved outside and hid these eggs all over the front and back yards. It was move of brilliance, or so I thought.

I was excited to have the kids wake up the next morning and dash outside to find all the fun-filled eggs. The morning arrived. The kids awakened. We all hustled outside, still in our jammies, excitedly looking for eggs. But the excitement quickly faded into devastation as we learned that every single egg had already been found, opened, and emptied. The wildlife in our area had stolen all my children’s surprises.

There is a way that seems right to a man,
    but its end is the way to death.
– Proverbs 14:12, ESV (also Proverbs 16:25)

Or, maybe this one:

The way of the fool is right in his own eyes,
    but a wise man listens to advice.
– Proverbs 12:15, ESV

Or this one:

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,
    but the LORD weighs the heart.
– Proverbs 21:2, ESV

It seemed right, clever, savvy for me to put the eggs out the evening before, but the end was a disaster. The children were crushed. It seemed right for Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, but the end was devastation for us all. It seemed right to Abram and Sari for Abram to be intimate with Sari’s handmaiden, but the end unleashed repercussions that have lasted generations. It seemed right to the chief priests and temple guard to put Jesus to death, but in the end, they missed the very Messiah they sought after and longed for.

The Oranges in My Navel

Many years ago, I had a dear friend who spoke of how many oranges a person can stuff into their naval. Her point was that when our eyes are on ourselves, our needs, our desires, our passions, we are baking with that dangerous recipe for “naval gazing,” and the longer we stare at that naval, the bigger it gets, and the bigger it gets the more oranges we can stuff into it.

When we are self-focused, dare I say, “narcissistic,” we can’t get away from our room of mirrors. Everything is about us and for us and under our control. Naturally, all our choices are the correct choices because they are the choices we made and, after all, what else is there?

The disciple of Jesus, just by virtue of being a disciple, acknowledges that Jesus is the Master, the Teacher, the King. We, then, are the servant, the student, the subject. By following anything or anyone other than Jesus, we are following an uninstructed, uninformed leader, especially if that leader is ourselves. We are following one whose conscience is “seared as with a hot iron.”¹

Matthew Henry put it bluntly:

The way of ignorance and carelessness, the way of worldliness and earthly-mindedness, the way of sensuality and flesh-pleasing, seem right to those that walk in them … Their end is really fearful, and the more so for their mistake: It is the ways of death, eternal death; their iniquity will certainly be their ruin, and they will perish with a lie in their right hand. Self-deceivers will prove in the end self-destroyers.²

We dare not get so locked into a narrative that we are blind to truth. The Jews were locked into a Messiah narrative that did not fit reality, but it was their narrative and they could not tear themselves from it. In their storyline, Jesus could not possibly have been the Messiah because he did not fit the mold.

The Confirmation

Though the Jews missed the Messiah when he stood in their midst, the story wasn’t over. There was still a chance. In the same way, though you may have followed your own path for years, even decades, your story is not over. You still have a chance.

Look with me at how the apostle Paul opened his beautiful letter to the church in Rome. There is one short phrase in this longer quote that I want you to catch, and to hold on to with everything you have.

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
– Romans 1:1-6, ESV

Do you see it? Regardless of what you may have thought of Jesus up to this time, recognize now that he has been declared to be the Son of God in power, and that declaration is confirmed by his resurrection from the dead! You can respond to that reality today! It is the resurrection we celebrate this week that declared in power that Jesus IS, the Son of God in the flesh!

Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says,

    “In a favorable time I listened to you,

        and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
– 2 Corinthians 6;1-2, ESV

Now is the time of God’s favor! Now is the time for God’s help. Today is the day of salvation! If you need to do so, correct your course now.

And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.
– Acts 22:16, ESV

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
– Acts 2:21, ESV

1. 1 Timothy 4:2
2. Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 985.