The Most Important Holiday

      I watched an amazing, short video at church on Sunday.  Actually, it was more of a slide show to music than a video.  It almost brought me to tears.  It was about Easter and why we celebrate it.  The emphasis in the video is why Easter is so much more important than any other holiday.  I had never thought of Easter as the most important holiday until this past Palm Sunday.  I had always celebrated Easter as a Christian, but I never thought of how truly important it is.  Christmas was always my favorite holiday.  I love the feeling of joy that surrounds it, but I always wondered why people were so joyful around Christmas, but they forgot those feelings of peace and giving the rest of the year.  Jesus didn't come to earth so that we would focus on his birth.  Jesus birth was a great miracle, but his purpose for becoming God as man was not fulfilled by his birth.  His life is a perfect testament to how we should live.  He was the only person who could live a perfect life and show us how we should live.  Jesus was not just joyful and giving around the time of his birth.  He was that way always, just as we should be.
     His purpose for becoming God as man was not fulfilled until he died.  This is why Easter is the most important holiday.  Jesus' purpose for coming to earth was to die.  He came here to die for us.  Think about that sentence for a minute.  It bears repeating.  He came here to die for us.  Not just those of us who believe in him.  He came here to die for everyone, even his enemies.  The pastor at church this past Palm Sunday stressed this point.  What kind of love does it take to die for your enemies?  It is an amazing, unfathomable love.  No one else could do it.  Jesus' last words on this earth are found in Gospel of John 19:30.  It says, "...Jesus said, "It is finished."  With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."  His purpose for becoming God as man was finished by his death.  Not his birth or life.  His death.  This Easter, focus on what is truly the most important thing that ever happened in our history.  On Friday afternoon, take a moment to stop and thank God for sending us Jesus to die for us.  There is no greater love or sacrifice than that.