Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and Ash Wednesday happened to fall on the same day this year. On Valentine's Day, we focus on our loved ones - whether it's a significant other, family, or friends (though it's typically the significant other). Ash Wednesday is when we focus on Jesus' final hours before dying. Ash Wednesday then opens up Lent (I believe for 40 days before Easter). You may look at the title of this entry and ask, "How do they go together?" Welp, glad you asked 😄
First, why do we celebrate Easter? Easter isn't about bunnies, candy, and dyed eggs (though those are fun things for Easter). First we have Good Friday, where we reflect on Jesus' sacrifice for all of us. Good Friday can be a bit depressing for me because of that. Then on Easter we celebrate his resurrection!
Jesus took our punishment - he took what we deserved onto himself. It was God's way of telling us how much he loves us - by rescuing us from what we deserved - death. You may say, "People still die today." Physical death, yes, people still die. But our souls don't die. Our souls when we die will either go on to live with Jesus in paradise, or it will be forever tormented in hell. Hell is not something I enjoy talking about, but I can't tell you all fluff and stuff you want me to tell you and not be honest about it.
When we look at what Jesus went through, it was God saying, "I love you so much, that I'm going to pay the price for you."
I heard this story once (I don't know if it's a true story or not) where this miner had gotten a lot of money and was on his way home to be with his family. As he was on his way home, he saw a slave market. There was a woman there for sale, and he heard what the other men were saying about her and what they wanted to do with her. It broke his heart and he couldn't take it. The miner went up to the guy selling her and said, "I'll pay twice the highest bidder." This had never been done before! The guy asked, "Do you have the money?" The miner said, "Yea, I've got the money." So he bought the woman. They were walking together and she spit in his face and told him how much she hated him. He wiped the spit off his face and they continued to walk together. They stopped at an office and he gave her some papers. She didn't know how to read, and didn't understand what the papers were. She said, "I hate you." He asked, "Don't you understand? These are your papers! You're free now!" She asked, "Wait, did you buy me to set me free? You paid more than anyone ever has. You bought me to set me free?"
We were slaves to our mistakes, our screw-ups, the darkness itself. Jesus bought us to set us free! He died to set us free! He was betrayed, brutally beaten, tortured, mocked, and ultimately killed to set us free! If that's not love, I don't know what love is then.
We celebrate Valentine's Day for love - Jesus showed the ultimate love for us. This is why they go perfectly together - in my opinion that is. Ironically, Easter this year falls on April Fools. I was talking to my husband last night about that. I told him, "There are probably going to be a lot of jokes mocking Jesus this year." It made me kinda depressed thinking about that. Here he did so much for us, yet there is a deep hatred for him in a lot of people. Trust me, I get it, I used to be one of those people. Seriously. But when I thought about it some more, my husband and I were both like, "Easter falling on April Fools this year could be Jesus' way of saying, 'Jokes on you Satan - I beat you at your own game!"
Even though Valentine's Day is over, let's take some time to reflect on how God really, REALLY, loves us.
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