For many of us, we have just emerged from one of the most powerful and emotional Lenten Seasons of our lives.  At least that is what you tell me.  It was emotional as we journeyed through the Lenten Sketches hearing the shouts of “Give us Barabbas!  Crucify Jesus!”  We felt the lashes of the scourge as they ripped into Jesus’ body.  We experienced the pounding of the nails as they pierced His flesh and bones.  And we heard His cries from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?”  And, “It is finished.”  For many of us, it might have been too emotional, too powerful, as we actually felt we were “there as they crucified my Lord.”  It forced us to leave our comfort zone.

I think it is important to remember, not only the bread and wine, but also, and especially, the passion with which Jesus bore our sins and guilt, and maybe even God’s cup of wrath upon the cross as He made the ultimate sacrifice to reconcile us to God.  And when we remember, it is uncomfortable.  It is uncomfortable for me because I realize that Jesus was looking all the way down through history at a young man named Jeff Roberts.  Jesus didn’t hang on the cross for the previous sins of the world, or even just for the sins of the world in which He lived.  Jesus hung on the cross for my sins and your sins too.

Our discomfort is turned into joy as the story did not end at the cross, or even in the tomb.  The story continued as Jesus victoriously rose from the dead.  As the Ecumenical Version of the Apostles’ Creed (United Methodist Hymnal, # 882) says, “. . . He descended to the dead.  On the third day He rose again. . . .”  On Easter Sunday, I borrowed a sermon from a guy named Mike Warnke, a Christian comedian of the 70's and 80's who is still active in ministry today.  Our Scripture text came from 1 Peter 3:18-19, and we explored this passage from the Apostles’ Creed speaking of Jesus descending to the dead.  We celebrated Jesus striding through the corridors of hell, freeing those who had been kept there from the beginning of time.  It wasn’t the beaten, crucified Jew of the cross.  It was the risen, glorified Lord of glory, the One Who’s called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace!  He took the keys to death and hell from Satan, lead to freedom all those people who had been held captive, and went right up to heaven, where, on the corner of Faith Avenue and Hallelujah Boulevard, He opened up a key shop.

As Jesus hung on the cross, looking down through history at all of us, dying for our sins, He later took our keys of death and hell from Satan, the one that not only unlocks our chains, but also fits our ignitions.  It not only sets us free from sin and death, but also gets us going to share the joy of the Good News that Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!

See you at the Key Shop next Sunday!

I love you.                                                            Jeff