Easter Reflections on Spiritual Growth

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After the Sabbath , as the first light of the new week dawned , mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb . Suddenly , the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God's angel came down from heaven and came right up to where they were standing . He rolled back the stone and then sat on it . Shafts of lightning blazed from him . His garments shimmered snow white . The guards at the tomb were scared to death . They were so frightened they couldn't move . The angel spoke to the women . There is nothing to fear here . I know you are looking for Jesus , the one they nailed to the cross . He is not here . He was raised , just as he said . Come and look at the place where he was .

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Well , happy Easter and welcome to our online audience . I'm Stephen Feith , lead pastor . Christ is risen , and for those of you who didn't grow up in the liturgical church , you repeat he is risen indeed . So let's try that again . Christ is risen . Yes , see , there we go , some of our folks who you grow up in a liturgical and you're like I'm not supposed to talk in church because you're not Pentecostal , but then we randomly do this and now , all of a sudden , you're expected to talk . It's very confusing to me too , and this will be the only time all year I have you repeat anything after me , but I want you guys to feel included in the greater body of Christ , because today , hundreds of millions of Christians all over the world are gathering and we're all saying the same message it's the one Sunday out of the year I can guarantee we're all talking about the same exact thing . We're here to observe and to reflect and to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus .

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For those of you who are new to our church or you're visiting with friends and family or watching online for the first time , we've been in a series since we started 2024 , called Mature Audiences Only . We've talked about the Bible and prayer , and we've talked about how oftentimes we grow up , but our faith just doesn't keep pace . We physically get bigger , we physically get whiter , we get older , we get grayer , we get balder . Emotionally , we're forced to grow up . That just happens . You don't have a choice , and oftentimes , though , spiritually we remain an infant or a toddler or a child , or wherever we're at . Usually , our spiritual maturity has not caught up or kept up with how we grow , and so throughout this series , we've been taking a deep dive into two big practices , reading the Bible and prayer , and I want to continue with that theme today as we look at Easter .

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And I'll be honest with you about a year , year and a half ago , when I was planning these series out , I thought this Easter Sunday what I would do is go into the science behind the resurrection , because some of you know , when dead people , when people die , they don't normally come back from the dead , right , I mean , like 10 out of 10 times people remain dead , and so a hard thing for us . You know you're basing your entire faith on the premise that this guy , jesus of Nazareth , raised from the dead 2,000 years ago , and that was the direction I was going to go . And over the last few weeks I just got the sense of maybe call it the Spirit moving me to go a different direction . And so I'm not going to talk about the science of the resurrection . Where the Spirit , I think , has been leading me is that Easter Sunday often evokes images of joy and lightness . It portrays a sanitized version of what happened . I love the book by NT Wright . I'm actually going to quote it later today . But Surprised by Hope , and in Surprised by Hope , wright mentions , like Easter's , this big and grand party and we should be popping champagne and celebrating , and I was . I mean , I love it . And every year I'm like , yes , except this year , I'll be honest . That's where I feel the shift of the Spirit in myself moving .

Good Friday's Purpose and Pain

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We like to skip Good Friday and we like to skip Silent Saturday . We tend to forget that because there's a resurrection , there had to be a death first , and maybe it's just because we're optimistic . Some of you are optimistic and you prefer to never think about the negative aspects of life and you just want to think about it . I couldn't help but notice on Friday , if you're on social media , how many people would say he is dead . But Sunday is coming . We couldn't just sit in the sadness , we can't just be grieved , and I thought that's a problem . We need to sit in our grief and in our tragedy .

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Now look , I'm not blaming you or anybody to shy away from pain . Pain is kind of this wonderful thing you've been given . I know you don't think like we all do everything we can to avoid pain , but if you think about it biologically , pain is keeping you alive . Pain is , I mean . There's a reason you don't put your hand on a hot oven or a stovetop right Like oh , that hurts , I'm not going to do that . Pain warns you , pain guides you , and so pain is a natural part of life .

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It's not all bad , but I think that when we tend to think and we talked about this a few weeks ago when we think of pain in my Christian experience , sometimes we think God is punishing me . I must have done something bad , and we mentioned this is a part of the faith that needs to grow up . Just because you're going through pain and suffering , it doesn't mean God's mad at you . It doesn't mean you've done something wrong and , as we find out in the Easter story , pain and suffering was required . Death was required . The whole reason you and I get together today , with hundreds of millions of other Christians around the world , to celebrate Easter is because a lot of really bad stuff happened to a really good person .

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You might think that if I'm just doing what God wants , my life's going to be good , right ? Isn't that the John 10 promise ? Follow me , and I have come to give you life , and to give you life to the full . So we think well , if I'm just doing God's will , things will be good . But contrast that with Jesus' experience on what we refer to as Maundy Thursday . He went a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground , praying my father , if it is possible , let this cup of suffering be taken away from me . Yet I want your will to be done , not mine . Well , that night , jesus acknowledges what's about to happen . I don't want to have happen . But , god , let your will be done , not my own .

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What has happened that night is one of the people that he spent most of his life with the three or four years prior betrayed him Judas . People that he spent most of his life with the three or four years prior betrayed him Judas . He sells them out for some money . And so then Jesus is arrested . Now I've not been arrested , but I can go out and imagine that some of you have you're watching , you're listening , you have , you know whatever accident on purpose , bad mistake , but being arrested seems like a pretty traumatic experience . That seems like that would cause a lot of angst inside . So not only has Jesus been betrayed , but now he's being arrested , and then he actually needs one of his friends . He needs Peter to maybe kind of stand up for him . And Peter denies him Not one time , not two times , but three times , or at least three times that we know about . They say , hey , we know you , you were one of Jesus' boys . He says , nope , nope , nope , not me , you got me confused with some other guy , but it was not me . You know Jesus .

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Pain , suffering , feeling alone . If we're taking anything from this message , it should be that if the sinless son of God himself wasn't exempt from pain and suffering in this world , you won't be either . Having faith doesn't mean you will not have adversity in your life . It doesn't mean you're doing something wrong . As a matter of fact , when we look at the story that we're looking at , god's will was pain and suffering . God's will was death . God's will was all of that to get to where we are today . Again , our faith is deeply rooted in the narrative that something really bad happened to someone really good and let me point out , not just someone really good God . Something really bad happened to God , god who has not sinned , god who has not done anything wrong , experienced evil and experienced pain and suffering .

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And this might be again , I know , biologically pain . We stay away from it , but think about it . Not all pain is bad . That's what I need you to begin to think about . Not all pain is bad . That's what I need you to begin to think about . Not all pain is bad .

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Think about exercising . This is a theory to me . I don't actually exercise , but I've heard from other people who exercise that you go to the gym and you work out and they say it hurts . So good , I'm like what . And they say I ran for an hour and I have so much energy and I'm just what , like I don't . There's a disconnect between theory and practice to me I don't . But they'll tell you that the more you do it , the stronger you get . They tell me , the more you do it , your mental health gets better . They tell me , the more that you do it , the more energy you have .

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But first comes pain . The first comes pain . You might've started a business , or you worked in an organization and you made mistakes and the business failed . Or you got fired and it was awful . But in that pain you probably learned some valuable lessons , either about running a business or how to act as an employee . I'm guessing that through that pain you got through it a better person . Did you know that there are studies that show that facing your insecurities openly foster greater confidence and charisma ? That when you own your stuff , you don't hide it . But when you own your weaknesses and you own the things that make you feel insecure , a reverse thing happens and you become more secure . Well , it takes some pain right to kind of come out and say this is where I've messed up or this is what I'm not good at , but if you can get through it , you become stronger . I mean , think about this Despite the initial sting , honest confrontation often leads to a better relationship .

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Honest confrontation often leads to a better relationship , more trust , more respect . Enduring fears and anxieties can forge unparalleled courage and resilience . However , I know that by just telling you , like guys , when you go through pain , good things happen , I know that that doesn't make you say , okay , well , let's go through pain Like I'm so pumped up . Now I know that it doesn't . And , as a matter of fact , going back to this idea of studies and research , they actually can show you that something almost the same is going on with your brain when you go through psychological pain as when you go through physical pain . So it's not just like your brain going crazy when you touch the hot stove , but that time , when you were in high school or junior high , you had that first love and that relationship didn't work out , and you were so upset that you said I think that I could die . Your brain literally thought so too . Your brain was releasing the same kind of chemicals and reactions that if , like an ice pick , had been driven through your heart .

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Psychological pain is just like physical pain and it's just like spiritual pain that we experience . So not all pain is bad . Some pain can be good , but all pain hurts psychological , spiritual or physical . And just because you're going through pain doesn't mean you're doing something wrong . Embracing God's will may lead you through a path of pain and suffering , but keep in mind that this path of pain and suffering might lead you , and holds the potential to lead you , somewhere that you could not go alone , that you could not go without the pain and suffering . Now I know you're ready , right , we're like this is good , this is good .

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That's not where the story ends , though . This is just Maundy Thursday . Don't forget about Good Friday . Sometimes things get worse before they get better . Jesus has been betrayed , jesus has been denied , he's been arrested . And on Good Friday , jesus endures brutal beatings , he's mocked . They place wagers for his clothes . He's hanging naked on a cross as he slowly bleeds to death as he slowly suffocates , as his organs begin to fail , in front of his mom , in front of his friends , in front of his followers . But it wasn't just his friends , it was also his enemies . They watch him on Good Friday too , die . It wasn't just the humiliation the night before . It was the humiliation and the pain and the sting of death .

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And if you're here today , you are not dead . But that doesn't mean that you don't know what death feels like . Some of you have had the death of a marriage , the death of a friendship . You're estranged from a sibling , estranged from a child . This is not just an emotional loss . You would say this feels like death . Personal health might be failing . Severe illness death Personal health might be failing Severe illness . Disability can radically alter our lifestyle and our self-perception . It can lead to a death of former ways of life , faith . Things can happen in your life that kill your faith . You might be here right now , just out of practice . I'm here . I don't know why my faith has died . My faith hurts . I'm watching or listening online . You're kind of checking things out . Our faith can die . There could be financial loss you might have had to declare bankruptcy or some other substantial financial loss and the death of that stings today .

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These experiences are just like Jesus's journey to the cross . They lead us to a wilderness of despair , and in these moments , we might find ourselves , just like Jesus saying my God , why have you abandoned me , abandoned me ? This cry encapsulates the depth of Jesus' suffering , although he and God were one . In this moment of suffering , he says God , why have you abandoned me ? And maybe you haven't used those words , but I imagine you have prayed something in the same spirit God , where are you , god ? Why have you left me , god ? Why am I so alone right now ?

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Good Friday reminds us that having faith does not shield us from the reality of death or even the sensation of being forsaken by God . Instead , it shows us that this is a normal part of following Jesus . This is a normal part of walking in God's will , that at some point and at some time , you're going to feel all alone , and it doesn't mean you've done something wrong . And in this moment , what Jesus does is he shows us that it's okay to acknowledge your suffering and it's okay to confront your own experiences of loss and abandonment , and it's okay to cry out to God , as this is all part of a larger story of hope and renewal . I know we like to go from Good Friday to today , but there is one more day between Good Friday and today and it's called Silent Saturday , and Silent Saturday reflects and represents the profound quiet and stillness , a day that's just absolutely steeped in pain and sorrow

Embracing Pain and Suffering

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You know the New Testament doesn't speak a whole lot to what actually happens on that Saturday . Apparently , there wasn't a whole lot to share about , but you can imagine what the disciples were feeling . They dedicated four years of their lives to something . Some of you have dedicated years of your lives to something , and then it ended . You can imagine the day of grief when you find out that it ended . It's over . They're scared because people are out there looking for them . They want to kill all of Jesus' followers now . So it's not just like my career needs to shift , it's not just that I wasted a bunch of time . Both of those things are lament worthy but now it's like what does my future look like ? Because my future might be screwed up because of what I did the last four years .

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Some of you know what that feels like . My past might have dictated what my future looks like and in today's context , silent Saturday might look like mental health struggles , depression so bad that you can't get out of bed , anxiety so bad that you can't get to bed and fall asleep and you call out to God . And yet you feel just so alone . You might have the grief and loss of a loved one in the last year or two . Your heart breaks , you miss this person . You can't go a day without thinking about them .

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Despite the digital connectivity that we all have and social media , we know that we're lonelier than ever . In the West , in the United States , despite being connected to 700 , 1,000 friends , having all of these followers on Instagram , many of us feel like we don't have one person that we can confide into . We feel alone . And again , going back to this idea of this crisis of faith , it leads to profound spiritual solitude . You might find yourself in an environment right now where you have pain and suffering and you call out to God . You say God , where are you ? And he's not answering . You find yourself in a silent Saturday . It teaches us that seeds of transformation and hope are sown into the quiet depths of solitude and the sorrow you're experiencing . And again , going back to this idea , we say it's Good Friday , but Sunday is coming .

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I love this quote by pastor and author Mark Batterson . He says we're often so anxious to get out of difficult , painful or challenging situations that we fail to grow through them . We're so fixated on getting out of them that we don't get anything out of them . Got to let that sink in . We get so fixated on getting out of them that we don't get anything out of them . We're so focused on God changing our circumstances that we never allow God to change us . You might be in a season of pain and suffering and feeling alone , because God is doing something that couldn't be done without pain and suffering . And you feeling alone , it doesn't mean you're doing something wrong . It means he's investing in you for something greater and something better . Because , don't forget , sunday is coming .

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There is a natural desire to jump to the joy of celebration , but it is vital for us on this Easter Sunday to remember the pain and the suffering and the journey that gets us to a resurrection . You cannot have a resurrection without a death . Death is required for resurrection and the resurrection narrative that you have in your gospels Matthew , mark , luke and John . They don't try to hide how terrible it was . They don't try to hide their doubts and their fears . They're honest with it , a lot more honest than we are when it comes to our own doubts and fears and the things that we're scared of . You know what happens when you touch that oven . Usually you get a burn right , a scar , something to remind you . Don't touch the oven again .

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Jesus also had scars from his crucifixion . They're actually mentioned later on in the story . The scars are not a sign of defeat . You would think that they were . You would think that the scars should remind you of the mistakes you made and how you failed and the regrets that you hold . But not the biblical narrative , not the story of Jesus , not Easter . The scars remind us of the powerful testimony of overcoming suffering and death . Today again , we carry all sorts of scars with us . Some of you might have physical scars from an illness , from a surgery , from a mistake , but it marks a health battle that you're currently in front of , doesn't it ? There's the emotional aftermath of enduring mental health struggles . You might have depression and anxiety , and those scars are real , but you're still here , aren't you ? There might be deep wounds from an abusive relationship hinting at past turmoil , and yet you're here , you're surviving . There's the marks of addiction and I know the road to recovery is challenging . And again , the internal scars from personal regrets , failures , but these scars that you have , whether I can see them or not , whether the person next to you could see them or not , these scars are not signs of defeat but powerful testimonies to your triumphs over death and suffering .

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The story of Thomas , often dubbed Doubting Thomas , it further illustrates this . If we're scrolling through the story of Matthew , there's Maundy Thursday and there's Friday , and then there's Resurrection Sunday , and then Thomas comes out and says I don't believe it , I don't believe Jesus came back from the dead . I saw him die myself . I'm not going to believe it unless I can see the scars . I got to see proof . Thomas is kind of like us in a lot of ways . I'm not going to believe it unless I can see the scars . I got to see proof . Thomas is kind of like us in a lot of ways . I want to see proof . And so Jesus appears to him , scars and all , and he says peace , be with you . And then he looks at Thomas and he says put your finger here , look at my hands , put your hand into the wound in my side and don't be faithless any longer . Believe Again with being honest about pain , suffering , feeling alone and scars . Jesus didn't come back all brand new . He came back battled , worn and torn , and he doesn't hide the scars . He says , yep , here they are . And he doesn't just say look at them . He says , thomas , let me help your faith because of what I have done .

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Again , easter Sunday evokes images of joy and lightness , but it's a sanitized version of the story if we don't recognize that the resurrection comes after death , pain and suffering , today you might be in a Resurrection Sunday season of life . Everything's working out , everything's great , you can hear God , you're following His will and that is awesome . I am really sincerely happy for you if that's where you're at , but I'm also aware others of you are in the midst of pain and suffering . You're experiencing the death of something significant in your life . You've had a good Friday moment of something that you absolutely loved . Some of you are beyond that . That happened a few months ago , that happened a year ago , that happened a few years ago and you find yourself in the longest , silent Saturday of your life . Where are you , god ? You have the death and you're waiting for Easter Sunday and you know it's coming . But it doesn't make being in Saturday any easier .

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It's in these moments that we kind of maybe question why . I saw a lot of this . Why did Jesus die on the cross this week is what I saw and why doesn't he just take away pain and suffering ? And again , I don't want to answer that question for you today , but I would like to offer a perspective . Author and pastor of the late Dr Tim Keller writes . If we ask again that question why does God allow evil and suffering to continue ? And we look at the cross of Jesus , we still do not know what the answer is . However , we know what the answer isn't . It can't be that he doesn't love us . It can't be that he is indifferent or detached from our condition . God takes our misery and suffering so seriously that he was willing to take it on himself . So I might not be able to explain why you're in the season of life that you're in or why you're going through it . Maybe it was a decision you made , maybe it was a decision someone else made , maybe God has led you here . We could speculate all day . Let's keep in mind that God isn't exempt from what you're going through , that he knows firsthand what you're going through .

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And , as we reflect on the journey from Good Friday , the silent Saturday , to Easter Sunday . Let's consider some things . If you are in a season of pain and suffering , and the first thing to consider is to embrace your pain and suffering , just embrace it . Recognize that it doesn't mean you're necessarily doing something wrong . It can mean that , but sometimes it doesn't . Sometimes you're right where God wants you to be , just like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane . Facing pain can be a part of the larger divine plan and purpose . So challenge yourself to see these moments not as abandonment but as opportunity to grow in your faith and to develop a deeper resilience on God .

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The second thing is to seek community . In times of despair , we need each other , and I'll remember the disciples on Silent Saturday . We don't know a lot , but here's one thing we do know they stayed together . They stayed together . Now I don't know about you , but if I feel like I wasted the last four years of my life with this group of guys , they're probably the last person I personally want to see Probably going to group text the thread like hey guys , I'm not feeling well , I'm just going to stay in today . You know , like they don't do that Through their pain and suffering , when they find themselves in a spiritual graveyard . These guys and gals , they got together . They recognized it's like they remembered Jesus had ingrained in them so much you need each other . But despite all odds , they came together and finally we cling to hope .

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Today is Easter Sunday . It is a good day . We do celebrate Jesus's resurrection . We have hope like never before . And I know that you don't feel it if you're in a season of pain and suffering . I know you don't feel it if you can't feel God right now . But that's where you got to use your brain . That's where you got to do some as I tell my son Oliver , you got to do some positive self-talk . Here you have to remind yourself what you know . Sometimes our feelings betray us , sometimes our emotions aren't right , like they're not telling us the truth . And because of Easter Sunday , we can tell ourselves right now I might be on Good Friday , this might be dying , but Sunday is coming . It might be Silent Saturday and I feel like I've wasted the last four years of my life and I feel like I screwed up my future , but Sunday is coming . We continue to tell ourselves that , regardless of how we feel , because the resurrection is the ultimate testament to the hope that we have and the renewal of all things I mentioned

The Transformative Power of Easter

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Nt Wright writes a great book called Surprised by Hope and it's all about the resurrection of Jesus and how it does so much more for us than just spiritually revitalize us . But the resurrection of Jesus changes everything and here's a little excerpt from the book . Wright writes justice and love have won . If Easter means Jesus Christ is only raised in a spiritual sense , then it is only about me and finding a new dimension in my personal spiritual life . But if Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead , christianity becomes good news for the whole world , news which warms our hearts precisely because it isn't about warming hearts . Easter means that in a world where injustice , violence and degradation are endemic , god is not prepared to tolerate such things and that we will work and plan with all the energy of God to implement the victory of Jesus all over them .

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No matter where you find yourself today , on a good Friday where things around you are dying . On a silent Saturday where everything feels quiet and you don't know what to do next . On a Sunday where you're celebrating the resurrection of Jesus because things are actually going good I imagine for some of you there's bits and pieces of all of that going on right now . But no matter where you are , easter assures us that new life , new hope is on the horizon . New hope is on the horizon and it's not just transformative for you and yourself , but it's transformative for the people around you , your family , your friends , your church , community , the city of Madison and absolutely beyond . In light of Jesus' resurrection , we are invited to live with the conviction that injustice , violence and degradation will not have final word . We are empowered to contribute to the unfolding of God's kingdom of healing , justice and love on earth . That's what Easter Sunday is all about .