Happy Easter!
The Easter bunny is a hard sell, much harder than Santa, yet the good bunny will be visiting our house this year.
Easter is the promise of rebirth. The land that has died in the cold winter is resurrected back to life in the warm glow of the sun. It is the time of the year we put away our running gloves and headbands and tights. On any good spring run, you’ll see the grass and the leaves and the trees start to breath and then turn green before your eyes.
But as for Easter, isn’t it Good Friday when all the serious work went down? Right?
Friday is the day Jesus was crucified and nailed to the cross. To me, that is quite a bigger deal than on Sunday.
Sure, Sunday is when the miracle of resurrection happens, but to honor the Sunday holiday and not Good Friday is like showing up on game 7 and watching the locker room celebration and calling yourself a fan.
Friday, is where the real blood and guts flowed and Jesus carried his cross that he was eventually nailed to. Friday was the hardship. Friday was when the metaphorical marathon training took place; the 20 mile long runs through aches and pains that rips us apart. The resurrection was just crossing the finish line of a race. Sure, it’s glorious, but as many marathoners will tell you, the training is the hardest part, the actual marathon run is almost just a victory lap.
Yes, Christian or not, the Christ-story is a great metaphor for what runners do all the time. On plenty of 20 mile runs I’ve felt that I have crucified my body, plunged into 3 days of harrowing hell, only to feel my spirit ascend to heaven and our creator. At times we run to shed a few pounds, but eventually we will want to shed our whole body and set our spirit free.
Stay tuned for next Sunday’s sermon, where I will unveil new evidence about the Last Supper, which was actually a carbo-loading meal to build maximum glycogen storages. After all, it was to prepare for the 3 day grueling endurance event of the resurrection. Nothing is more ultra than that.
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5 comments:
I never really thought of the runner comparison, but it totally works!
Loved this post! Good Friday services are the best. You truly feel God's presence and there is plenty of room in the pews to spread out and pray!! Last supper carbo load??? Made me laugh! Have a blessed and joyous weekend,
Great post!
'At times we run to shed a few pounds, but eventually we will want to shed our whole body and set our spirit free.'
..is especially meaningful to me.
Thank you!
-Celia
Well Said Mark, I truly and encouraged by your writing, It is eloquent and poetic. Love the simile. It was right on.
Love this one, and I love how you italicized that sentence about shedding our body and setting our spirit free. I totally relate.
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