2-18-2016

Good Morning All!!     

       Matthew 28:51; “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” 

    “I’m kind of a big deal you know!”  It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud.  A couple of years ago I was listening to my great nieces and nephews play at Christmas time.  They are mostly quite young.  One of them wanted to play the way he wanted and a different one wanted to do something else.  The first one wondered why the second one got to decide what they were going to do.  The response, “Well, I’m kind of a big deal you know!” 

    When you are “kind of a big deal”, you tend to think that the world revolves around you.  When the one who says this is two or so, it is funny.  When the one that says this is twenty two, it is more troublesome.  Yet as we look at the events of our lives or the people of our lives there are times when it was “kind of a big deal” to us.  When I finally convinced the girl of my dreams that I would try and be a good spouse and she agreed, it was kind of a big deal.  When each of our boys was born, it was kind of a big deal.  Marriages, births, and deaths are kind of big deals in our lives.  So are health issues, job changes, graduations, empty nests, retirement, and the like are kind of big deals. 

    Our verse is from Matthew’s account of Jesus’ death.  The moment he died, the curtain torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook and the rocks split.  That would have been kind of a big deal.  Not only did this happen but graves opened up and many saints were seen.  The death of Jesus was kind of a big deal.  It changed mankind’s direction.  For those of us who are the redeemed children of God, this event brought an end to the devil’s tyranny.  This event took us out of the spiral of sin and lifted us into Christ’s resurrection.  This event paid our debt, a debt that we could never pay and put us righteous before God.

     The Temple curtain tore, top to bottom, showing that God had destroyed the veil between us and opening up the path for us to come to him directly as a loving child comes to his loving father.  The earth shook and the rocks split; even creation knew that this was a big deal.  Christ took on mankind’s sin and paid for it all.  More importantly, Jesus took on your sins and mine.  We are now covered by his cloak of righteousness and with that we are declared to be sons of God and co-heirs with Jesus to God’s kingdom; that is a big deal.  We are part of this great blessing, this wonderful gift from God; it is kind of a big deal.  We have the promise of the Creator-Redeemer God that we will have eternal life with him.  That is kind of a big deal.

    Dear Father, your mercies are new to us every day.  We give you thanks for the blessings of this life especially for giving us the hope of salvation in Jesus. Guard us with your Spirit.  Strengthen our hope and enliven our spirit in service to you.   Be with those who are in most need of your grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret