From Palm Sunday To The Empty Tomb

Easter week lands differently when we slow down and trace the story from the donkey ride into Jerusalem to the empty tomb on Sunday morning. We talk through Holy Week highlights and why the resurrection of Jesus is the hinge point of Christian faith and everyday hope. 
• Easter weekend announcements, sunrise service details, breakfast plans, teen conference and summer camp signups 
• Favorite Easter traditions, family memories, and the candy debate 
• Palm Sunday and the triumphal entry, “Hosanna” meaning “save us” 
• How unmet expectations flip the crowd from praise to “crucify him” 
• Passover and the Last Supper, foot washing, and what it reveals about Jesus’ kingdom 
• Peter’s sword moment in the garden and what Jesus does next 
• The illegal trial, Pilate, Barabbas, and mob mentality 
• The crucifixion as a willing sacrifice and why it matters 
• The empty tomb, the evidence question, and Mary as the first messenger 
• Serving enemies like Jesus serves Judas, and the joy that follows resurrection hope 

Paintball camp signups are open at house mill.org. 
Let us know what you want to talk about next. 

www.rushchurch.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome everybody to another episode of the Rush Hour Podcast. It's Easter week. It's Good Friday. And so we're going to talk all things Easter today on the podcast. We have Brittany and Ashley, and also my wife, Erica. She's here today to join us. And so

Easter Weekend Announcements

SPEAKER_01 0:16

we're just going to have some conversations. Actually, Ashley's not even here. She's calling in from wherever she's at this week. But uh go ahead and say hi, everybody.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

Hello. Hello.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

There we go. Everybody's here. We can hear. Everybody's good. Perfect. So thanks for tuning in. First off, we'll have some announcements. We have Easter this Sunday. Don't miss it. You want to be here? We have Sunrise Service at 7.30. That'll be me. So come hang out with us. Hear a message that I think will be pretty good. I mean, it's me. I'm doing it. But uh so hopefully it's good. John's got the regular Easter services at 9.30 and 11. Um, we also have breakfast. Breakfast done by the deacons, right, Brittany?

SPEAKER_04 0:56

That's right. I have the Sunday off.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Yeah, the Sunday off. No buffet or anything, so it's just gonna be if we have leftovers. We'll put them out.

SPEAKER_04 1:04

I'll put them out.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

We usually have donuts and pancakes and sausage, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:09

They're having biscuits and gravy.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

They're having biscuits and gravy. They are not pancakes.

SPEAKER_04 1:13

I think they're having both.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Oh my goodness. We are uh it's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_04 1:17

Buffet game. Yeah, buffet check.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

So that's at 8:30. Make sure you come check out breakfast and all the Easter things this Sunday. I'm really excited about that. We have I'll be going to OTFC here this weekend, Friday and Saturday.

SPEAKER_05 1:31

Me too.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

And yep, me and Erica are taking some people, and we have seven girls that are going, so pray for us as we're there. We get to learn a lot, and it's a cool conference. It's Ohio Teens for Christ and Columbus and Easton. So good worship music, good teaching, and maybe we'll go to the Lego store and buy some Legos too. So it'll be fun. But that's what's going on there. Paintball camp signups are open at house mill.org. If you have a seventh through twelfth grader, somebody going into seventh grade, paintball camp is open for that. I think I have about 13 or 14. So we got plenty of spots left to fill. Hopefully, you can come to that. And then also in July, there is Rise and Shine Girls Camp at Howls Mill. Dear, why don't you tell them a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Yeah, Rise and Shine Girls Camp. It's for going into sixth grade to going into 12th grade or coming out of 12th grade. And we spend some time digging into kind of what it means to be a woman of God. This year, our theme is in the garden. So we'll be talking about what it means to grow in Christ and what it means to plant more seeds in discipleship.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Sounds really good. Lots of fun camp things. You always do the giant swing and water slides and you guys you don't do any paintball while you're there, do you? No.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

I'm sad about that, but I would I would like to. I don't think I could talk Tim into it.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Okay. Ashley, do you want to give a quick recap about Superstart? I haven't talked on the podcast since you've been. I don't know if you want to talk about that real quick.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Oh yeah. Superstart went awesome. We had 12 students go with us and six adults. And it was just 24 hours of worship and lesson. They did a they did um what do you call it? Like a play this year. It's called uh the mystery. And so we're just learning how to be able to find God through the Bible and be able to prove your case that he's real. And I think the kids really loved it. And then we went to Slick City where that was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Anything exciting happened in Slick City?

SPEAKER_03 3:38

And I'm pretty sure the whole place heard me scream.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

If you haven't seen it, the video is on our Facebook page, our WrestleMania Church of Christ Facebook page.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Why have I not seen this? You need to see it.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Ashley going down a slide, and she does. I think everybody heard you going down the slide.

SPEAKER_04 3:50

So it echoed.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

It's a great video, though. I I liked it a lot. So yeah, Superstart went well, it sounds like. So that's really good. But yeah, anything else announcement-wise that I forgot or were missing?

SPEAKER_03 4:04

No. I don't believe so.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

You had a fifth Sunday in the backyard last week, didn't you?

SPEAKER_03 4:10

Oh, I did, yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Tell us a little bit about Fifth Sunday. That was the first one.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

It was. And not every Fifth Sunday is gonna be the same, but this was definitely awesome. I knew the first one was going to be loud and exciting. It was Easter themed. And we did a bunch of minute to win it games, and I challenged them in different color groups, and I think they all had a blast.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Sounds like a blast. It was I popped my head in back there a couple times and saw some stuff to make sure Ashley was standing upright. Just to check on you. You look like you had it handled, so I was like, Ah, she's got this. She knows it was good.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

Somebody said once I cleaned it all up, I took my 10-hour drive and head to South Carolina.

SPEAKER_04 4:54

Yeah. Somebody said, How is Ashley handling the backyard all by herself? I said, She has a squirt bottle and a bullhorn. Wow. That's not true, by the way. She did not. But the roar.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

I kept all the classrooms locked so I could see them all and knew everybody was.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

That is, it looked like a fun time. The kids were talking about it. It looks like uh you have like a competition for colored teams, and it looks like pink team was the winner.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

They were, yeah. Pink team won.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

All right. So that's what's been going on here at Rush Church a little bit. And now it is Easter week. And so I thought we could just kind of talk about the Easter week from scripture a little bit. Oh, but first, before we get into the Bible stuff, just Easter in general. What are you some of your favorite things about this time of year, about Easter as a holiday and as a celebration, I guess?

Favorite Easter Traditions And Candy

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Any family traditions or different things that you guys enjoy about Easter?

SPEAKER_04 5:52

Like, who wants to go first? You talked first, so it's all new. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 5:58

Easter is my favorite, probably. I think it's my favorite holiday. Um, I really enjoy Christmas, but Christmas kind of gets flooded with consumerism. I mean, it puts a lot of stress on parents. Trees and presents and songs and movies and it just kind of gets flooded where Easter I feel like I can celebrate just the holiday in general. It is also right around my birthday.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

So your birthday is uh Saturday, right?

SPEAKER_04 6:31

Yes, my birthday is Saturday, so we probably will not be celebrating it because that's hard to compete with Easter. People tend to forget. But Well Okay, I'll just take whatever desserts out and say this is for me.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Any favorite Easter candies or dishes food-wise or something?

SPEAKER_04 6:54

I'm a I'm always a chocolate and peanut butter anything chocolate peanut butter really enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Well, that's pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Dear any thoughts about Easter?

SPEAKER_02 7:05

I mean, I always enjoy I always enjoy the time we get to spend. You said, like actually focusing on why I mean the why of Easter. I really like that we started going to Ohio Teens because then we go on Good Friday, we're there, and we get to do some serious like God time on Friday and Saturday leading up to Easter, which kind of I think it's kind of cool because it kind of centers me in what we're supposed to be doing. And then, you know, spending a whole day with family is always good.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Mm-hmm. So OTFC is always on Easter weekend, which is you know, kind of like, well, there's a lot going on Easter weekend, but I think it's kind of a cool thing in a way that we kind of get together and we worship and really focus in right before Easter time. So that's pretty cool. And I think the the idea of Easter is, you know, well, Christmas is about Jesus' birth, and it's you know, kind of a but there's so much comes with Christmas in our culture and all around our time and stuff. So I think at Easter time it's more centered on Jesus in a way, I believe. It's kind of like one of my favorite part of Christmas is candlelight service on Christmas Eve because it kind of brings the focus back and that good stuff.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

So Ashley?

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Yeah, Ashley, you got anything on uh Easter that you like?

SPEAKER_03 8:23

I do. I was actually gone for a minute.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Oh, well, you had background noise, so I muted you until that was gone.

SPEAKER_03 8:30

So okay. I don't know how that happened.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

But okay, so the Easter candy for me is definitely Cadbury eggs.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Oh yes, Cadbury eggs! Yeah, that's my favorite. Another one. Sometimes the Cadbury eggs are like, you know, either people hate them or they love them.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

I am I am one of the people who hate them.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Oh my goodness, they're so good.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

And then you have one in your coffee. Oh yes, I love this.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

I just Erica brought me a iced coffee earlier this morning, and it was called the Chubby Bunny drink. And there was like a half of a Cadbury egg on top of it in the cadre.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

And those little like just milk chocolate cadbury eggs.

SPEAKER_04 9:05

I looked at it and I was like, how many calories are in that cup of coffee?

SPEAKER_02 9:10

He's like, Well, also when I ordered it, I thought it was gonna be like, you know, a regular size because I ordered him a medium and it came out and it's like the size of his head.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

That was beautiful. It's a great thing. I'm feeling really good right now. I drank the whole thing. We're ready to go. What'd you say, Ashley?

SPEAKER_03 9:28

I said was it from Always Brewing?

SPEAKER_01 9:30

It was from Always Brewing, and it was uh really good.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

I love that place.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

They have so many varieties of drinks and stuff there. Good place if you haven't been. What else do you think about Easter, Ashley? You have any memories or things that you really like about Easter or so I kind of grew up technically.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

I still have siblings, but I kind of grew up as an only child because they were all older and like in college or married by the time of adopted. So my parents did our egg hunt even when they were like the adults, we're still like way adulting. So we kind of carried that transition or the tradition that even though all of my nieces and nephews are like mostly adults, we still do the egg hunt.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Still do the egg hunt, even though there's no small kids anywhere. That's fair. It's just a bunch of grown up.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

Carter's the baby, and he's a freshman in high school.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

I I think that would be pretty awesome. Like in my head, I picture like the inside the eggs have like money or like adult things that people like, like you know, like the golden egg is a gas card.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

It's like, oh yes.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

Well, Haley was like, Are you still getting us Easter baskets? And I'm like, you're 19 years old.

SPEAKER_04 10:43

Yes, I'll get it. She's like, and so you can still do an Easter basket.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

It's quite nice. But yeah, I like that idea.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Like I just pictured like people like fighting for these eggs out in the yard Easter after church, just like, not a golden egg.

SPEAKER_04 10:59

I will tell you something that's very funny at my house is my dad always saying, Okay, we had 200 eggs, you know, or whatever the number is. We had 200 eggs. Let's make sure we had 200 eggs that we found them all. And my brother always lies to him. He's like, We're four short. And he goes, Okay, kids, get back out there. We got four more eggs. And somehow they always find eggs, even if because they're so, you know, we never get all of them. So there's always an egg left from the.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

I remember that when my dad would be like, make sure we get all the eggs out of the yard. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:32

Don't run them with the mower.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Don't want to hit them with the mower. But it never two months later in June, mowing the yard, you're shooting Easter eggs across at the neighbors, or you're like, oh, thought you picked up all these eggs.

SPEAKER_05 11:44

Just kidding.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

So yeah. That's a little bit of our Easter talk. Ashley, did you have a a joke for us today or not?

SPEAKER_03 11:53

I do. I have two jokes today.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

You only get, I'm just kidding, you can do both of them, I guess. A rush hour joke. Joke of the day a section of our podcast here.

Jokes And Travel Check-In

SPEAKER_03 12:04

Okay, so first joke is there was a little boy at school, and he walked next to the same person every single day at school. And the teachers asked him, Why do you walk past them all the time? And he said, Because they said walk by faith.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

I like the dramatic call.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

I thought she was gone.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

I thought we lost her. The connection's gone. He's like, oh, now we'll never know the joke. We got there. Walk by faith.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

And the second joke is from Mr. Darren. And he says, Why is the church official car a Honda?

SPEAKER_01 12:47

I don't know why.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Because we're all on one accord.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Wow. I'm glad that one was that one's okay. I liked I like your jokes, Ashley.

SPEAKER_05 12:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

I'm glad that wouldn't start with a little seems the last three you were like, and there's a little boy.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

There's a little boy. There's this child.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

So it's not like Britney. Let me tell you the story. That's not. I've never started.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

There we go. That's the Britney storytime sound effects. I did get a request to use more sound effects on the soundboard from somebody that listens to the podcast. I was like, I'll try to throw some more in there. I I've got some custom ones on here that I've saving for another time, but always good stuff. Thanks for the jokes, Ashley. Thanks for joining us even when you're on a little vacation. Still making time for the Rush Hour podcast. Priorities.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

Ashley, where are you? South Carolina.

unknown 13:41

South Carolina.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Maybe she doesn't want people to know.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

Non-disclosure.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

What are you doing right now? Are you got a good view or anything else?

SPEAKER_03 13:49

Well, so today we're driving to the next location where I'm gonna get to go to the pretty place. Which is an outdoor chapel. Oh yesterday I was laying out at the beach.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

I thought she was the name of the place was the pretty place. I was like, that's a really name of the place.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

It's up in the mountains, right? Yes. Yes, it's up in the mountains. I'm so jealous.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Alright. Enjoy your mountains. You got the beach, the mountains, you got it all.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

Got it all.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

People like the Carolinas, I think. Never been to the beach part of Carolinas.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

I went to Myrtle Beach once. Yeah, I didn't realize how close we were.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

I've been to the Biltmore in North Carolina, the big old mansion place.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

Yep. We're going there tomorrow too.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Are you going to the Biltmore?

SPEAKER_03 14:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

It's pretty there. Maybe not yet, but is it is it green and stuff down there, like spring?

SPEAKER_03 14:42

It is. It's very green around here.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Okay. It's getting green here. I just looked out the window.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

As you know, he haven't been outside in recent history.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

I just got a text. I just now got a text from one of the listeners to the podcast and said, What's the deal with the hokey music at the beginning of the podcast? I vote for a new tune. So we're going to have to.

SPEAKER_03 15:05

Is that from Jeremy Payne?

SPEAKER_01 15:07

No.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

Okay. Because you said the same thing to me.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

This is from Russ Varner.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Oh. Oh, well, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Russ, if you're listening, I'm going to change the music. All right. We'll find some better intro and outro music because that was just one that I found that was free when we started this thing. And so I really haven't changed it yet. But now we're 22 episodes in, so we can start doing the little things, I guess. Changing the music. That's funny that he just now texted me while we're recording. Yeah, I would I would love that even better if Carter made us a little tune or something. Intro music. But yeah, so that was funny. Alright. We know what Ashley's doing. We know where she's going now. We can track her in the Carolinas talking about Easter traditions. I love Cadbury eggs, and Easter time is fun. I like that you know everybody comes to church and it's you know focused on one of the most important things, you know, the most important thing in history that's ever happened, and the resurrection of Christ coming out of the tomb, and the tomb is empty. And so today I just wanted to spend a quick time going through the week of Easter leading up to the resurrection. And so we'll start with the triumphal entry of Jesus riding into Jerusalem. And what did he ride in on?

SPEAKER_02 16:20

Donkey. Donkey.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Donkey. Donkey.

Palm Sunday And Misread Messiah

SPEAKER_01 16:24

I cannot think of uh every time I think of it.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Not the talking donkey of the Bible.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Like Eddie Murphy in my head, head. Sorry, I get on a little tangent. But so that's one of my like when you first start the Easter week, uh I was teaching this the other night at a youth group on Sunday night, and I we were reading through it. And when you read the read the text of you know, they get to Jerusalem when they had approached Jerusalem and had come to the Mount of Olives, Jesus went and sent two of his disciples, and he said to them, Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with it. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, The Lord needs them, and he will send them on immediately. Now this took place so that what the prophet spoke would be fulfilled. And so this is a prophecy from Oh shoot, I just lost it. I don't remember where it's from. I think it's Isaiah, but anyway. But the story reads is like they get to the outside of Jerusalem, and they're like, and Jesus is like, Alright, you two, come over here. I need you to go into the city, and there'll be a donkey over there tied up. And I want you to untie it and bring it to me. If anybody stops you, tell them it's for the Lord. And so it sounds like Jesus is asking to go steal somebody's donkey off a pole. And so I just think that funny. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Zechariah 9.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Zechariah, thank you. Not Isaiah. Anyway, Zechariah 9. I need I need my wife here to like do quick lookup and fact check me while I'm going through this thing. So that'd be good to have. So I like that. And and so the little bit about this is you know, Jesus is doing this to fulfill prophecy of what it says the Messiah would be riding on a uh young donkey. But and so it sounds weird to us. It sounds like they're trying to steal a donkey, but the owner of this animal would have found it an honor that someone of Jesus' status would come and want to ride this donkey and ride it in Jerusalem on the triumphal entry. Another cool little fact is that nobody ever rides an animal into Jerusalem, the holy city. It doesn't happen. You don't ride animals and you get off and you walk through the gates into Jerusalem. It's just a just what they did. Even when Alexander the Great visited Jerusalem hundreds of a couple hundred years before this, he got off his animal and he walked into Jerusalem and walked into the city. Jesus comes in and he's like, riding this donkey, and he rides right into the city. And he's making a huge statement about who he is and what he's there for. And so the people are doing what? Find the people, the crowds, what are they doing during this?

SPEAKER_03 18:54

They're praising him.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

They're waving on branches and throwing their clothes on the ground.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Yes, they are it's like in my head. I see this as like you ever seen the Super Bowl parades when the team wins Super Bowl and they go back to their city and people are like surrounding the floats and they're on the sides of the streets. Like I in my head, I'm like, Jesus is riding in, and this is like a party. It's like celebration. Everybody's and what are they shouting? Anybody know?

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Hosanna.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Yes, Hosanna. Anybody know what Hosanna means? Any guesses? Cody literally just told me that. Brittany, you're supposed to just say it and you're supposed to be smart. Oh my god. But you don't remember what I said, do you?

SPEAKER_04 19:34

I might have guessed wrong four times before you told me the right one.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Hosanna just simply means save us, we pray. Save us, we pray. And so they see Jesus as the Messiah. They see him as the Savior, the one that they've been waiting for throughout the whole Old Testament. So they see him as the Savior, they see him as the Messiah, and they are excited that he's coming to Jerusalem, uh, except for the fact that they have a misunderstanding of actually what he's supposed to do. Their understanding the Messiah was the king, he's gonna come in and retake Jerusalem and become the king and kick out the Romans and start a uh revolution of we're gonna be not oppressed by any outside powers anymore. We're gonna be our own governing country. Once again, the we're not Romans can't tell us what to do, nobody can tell us what to do. The Messiah is going to come and set up a kingdom, and we're gonna be like it used to be in the glory days when King David was around and they had you know this kingdom. And so that's why they're excited. That's why they're you know out on the streets and Jerusalem's abuzz, and it's it's that's like a party and a celebration. And then we get into the rest of the week, and Jesus is around and he's doing things, and he's not doing things the way they thought that he should do. He's not even you know, yelling at the Romans, or he's not trying to kick them out, he's not trying to overthrow them, he's actually agreeing with them in certain places in scripture, and he's like, Oh, yeah, give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and he's talking about all this stuff, and they're like, wait a minute, what's this guy doing? And so we see this version of Jesus and what he's actually come for, uh what he's actually there for, and what the kind of king that he is going to be is not the king that they expected. Um, their expectations were here, and Jesus didn't meet their expectations. So a little later in the Easter story, that same crowd that's celebrating and excited and saying, Save us, we pray, is now going to yell the opposite. They're gonna yell, get this guy on a cross, crucify him, crucify him. And so we see that, and so I like the idea of our expectations for Jesus, even today. Like some people put expectations on who they think that God should be and what he should do. And God's like, Your expectations, they don't really matter to me. I am who I am, and I this is what I came to do. And if you don't like it, then tough, I guess, is what you would say. But so Jesus comes in, rides. On his donkey. People are excited. Um, what's another thing in the Easter story that we see? What's the next? Maybe not the next thing, but Passover? Passover is kind of the next thing to do on the uh Passover night, usually celebrated on Thursday, which it's called Monday, Thursday.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Maundy Thursday.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Monday.

Passover Meal And Betrayal Begins

SPEAKER_01 22:23

There you go. Uh people celebrate that. And we have anybody ever done a Seder meal? You guys have all done Seder meal, haven't you?

SPEAKER_02 22:30

I have not.

SPEAKER_03 22:31

You haven't? You haven't? We did one with you guys.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Hmm. Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 22:37

We're gonna have to. I wish we did one.

SPEAKER_03 22:39

It was like the most intimate thing I'd ever experienced.

SPEAKER_04 22:42

Yeah. It would be really cool to do it with everyone. Like a giant one. Oh, yeah. It would be really cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

We should probably put on a Seder meal for what's you know, for people that want to experience that. Seder meal is just the Passover meal that they would have had that Jesus at the Last Supper. We had the Last Supper, and the Passover is to celebrate what?

SPEAKER_03 23:04

The Passover of the Death Angel.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

There you go. And the story of the Exodus in Egypt. And so they're bringing them out of slavery in Egypt and into on their way to the Promised Land in that story. And so this is the Passover. They celebrate this every year. Just what happens? Jesus shows up in Jerusalem during the Passover, which I don't think is a coincidence. So Jesus is celebrating the Passover and he's about to do that. So we see the Last Supper, see the Passover meal, and then John records that he washes his disciples' feet at this meal, at this thing. And so this idea of showing who he really is, what he's come to do. He is the king, he's the Messiah, but not in the way that everybody expected him to be. He is humble, he is loving and compassionate and just full of grace. And so this is why the crowds turn on him. And then we see him get arrested in the garden. And Peter cuts off a guy's ear.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

I was gonna say, you're doing a really good job going through really it's I mean, it's a lot of information that we're going through. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

I'm just giving you the highlights of the Easter week.

SPEAKER_04 24:14

But Peter cutting off the ear made the highlight real.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:17

As it should. As it should.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Because they're still in that mindset of no, you can't take Jesus away from us. He is our, he's our he's our teacher, he is the Messiah, he's going to lead us into what's next. And for what was next for them, they still couldn't wrap their heads around the idea of not a physical kingdom, not kicking the Romans out, not you know, having that expectations that they had, even his disciples. You see this where Peter's like, no, you're not taking him. And Jesus tells him, like, put your sword away, Peter. This is what's going on. He heals the guy's ear and then they arrest Jesus and take him away.

SPEAKER_02 24:49

My favorite part is they literally put this guy's ear back on, and he's like, Up stuff, taking you anyway.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Well, yeah. I mean, that is an interesting part of the story. I always remember that part.

SPEAKER_04 25:04

I just always think, like, okay, you're Peter, and you're like, you're gonna do something to honor Christ. You know, you're you believe you're gonna cut off this guy's ear instantly. He's like, really? Like, can you imagine feeling like what he felt in that moment? Like, oh, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

This isn't the first time Peter's been in this situation. He does it a lot. Peter always talks first, thinks about it later.

SPEAKER_04 25:28

He's like, I can relate to him so much. But you're right, right just does, and then he's like, but yeah, so Dis is like, no, Peter, once again, yeah, we're not doing that.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

And so he puts the guy's earbagone on, they arrest Jesus, they put him on trial. It was an illegal trial. Wall says you can't have trial in the middle of the night, just middle of the night. They start to put him on trial, and they take him and they have false witnesses, they bring all these things against him, and so you see, Pilate's like not really sure what to do. The Roman officer in charge, he's like, This guy seems innocent to me. I don't really know what we're charging him with, but the Jews seem really upset with this guy, and they're they're all about getting rid of him. Uh, he's like, fine, we'll give you a choice. It's Passover, after all. Let's, you know, the tradition is we'll set a prisoner free. So they bring out a guy named Barabbas, and they have Jesus, and they're up there, and he's just like, You guys get to pick. This Barabbas guy who is a revolutionary, he's a murderer, he's a zealot, he is a violence, violent guy who has been fighting against Rome in a violent way. And we have Jesus who hasn't really done anything, and the crowd's like, Jesus, we want him to crucify him. Set free Barabbas. And you know what Barabbas' name means? Son of the Father. Son of the Father. The ironic part is they set free the fake son of the father for and kept the true son of the father and crucified him. So a little interesting thing there. And why they do that? Because we go back to what they expected. They expected Jesus, they expected the Messiah to be a certain way, and they're like, at least Barabbas is actually doing something against the Romans. At least he's actually taking action and he's you know fighting up, standing up for us in this way. They didn't realize, you know, the way Jesus was going to do things was not what they expected. And so that's where we see, because it I don't know if you've ever heard the Easter story growing up, maybe, maybe not, but for me, it was always this crowd of people was so excited, and all of a sudden it's the same people yelling, crucify him.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

I always think it's a it's a showing of how they talk about, you know, God's a good shepherd and we're just a bunch of sheep. And I don't know if you've spent much time around sheep, sheep are dumb. And I'm like, it would only take, you know, one or two people planted in the audience to be like, Oh, we're mad at this guy. And all of a sudden, all the sheep be like, ah, yes, you, you're the worst. We don't like you. So to me, that that part of it is like they saw people get excited, so they came out and they were all excited, and then they saw people get mad, and they were like, ah, we gotta get mad. Like, I mean, people still do. I mean, it's it's just to me, it always is like, Oh yeah, people are definitely sheep.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Yeah, and that mob mentality took over in the crowd, and you know, some people were probably just like they don't even know much about it, like, oh, everybody else wants him to crucify him. And it just turns so quickly before you can even realize what's happening. So they send Jesus to the cross, and he goes to the cross, and that's where he gives up his life. And so we see Jesus, he's on the cross, he's hanging there, and so we we don't need to talk about the most people listening understand what the crucifixion

Trial Before Pilate And Barabbas

SPEAKER_01 28:41

was with the nails through the feet and the hands, and how awful it was, and how horrific the death on a on a cross would have been, and how the Romans had perfected this, how they they were really good at what they did. And so, no doubt about it, Jesus died on that cross, no matter what, you know. Some people say that he just you know passed out and they put him in tomb and then he walked out later. No, that doesn't success rate with crucifixions, and there's no way that anybody survives that. And so you see this idea of Jesus giving himself up, and one of the final things he says on the cross is Lord, I I give you my spirit. I I'm giving giving up my life here on the cross. And so even to his final breath, we see that this wasn't this was a choice. This was Jesus, no one took his life from him, as he says, but I give it up. I give it up willingly for humanity. And that's really part of the the part of the story that I love the most is all the way up until the very end, Jesus is still in control. You see it in his words, he's like, I give you my spirit. He's he's the one giving up his life, no one's taking it from him. And so the crucifixion happens, and then they put him in a tomb and they bury him, and everybody is sad and thinking that it's over. His closest followers, the disciples, are in hiding. They think, you know, we followed this guy for three and a half years, and now he's gone, and he was supposed to be he was supposed to be the one, the Messiah, and now he's dead. And so they're still trying to wrap their brains around this. And so Sunday morning comes, and the women go to the tomb, and what do they find there?

SPEAKER_02 30:21

Nothing.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

Well, angels. The tomb is empty, empty tomb, and so that's what that's what the world has to deal with for Easter. That's what people who hear the Easter story, they have to deal with the empty tomb. Why was it empty? And if you go through it all, which I'm gonna go through in my classes this Sunday morning, the evidence of the resurrection and why Jesus actually came back to life. There is, you know, evidence for this, and you have to be able to explain the empty tomb. There's not a lot of things that it can explain it. You use the Bible, you use extra sources from history, all these different things, and it all adds up to something happened to make the tomb was empty, and as Christians, this is where we we put our faith in this idea that Jesus did rise from the dead, and without that, our faith is useless, is what Paul says. So the resurrection is the hinge point of Christianity, it is the main thing, and and so to understand that and to realize what it means for us is important. So the empty tomb is happening, and and so the women show up to the tomb and they're like, nobody in here. And so they run back and they get Peter and John and they race to the tomb. Um, in John's gospel, it says that you know, Peter and the one that Jesus loved, which is talking about himself, John. Um, they run to the tomb and it says, you know, and he beat Peter there before, and it was a race. Very important. Make sure that I just write this down in my gospel that I beat Peter to the tomb. He says, Yeah, it's one of those but the women already beat you there. But he says, does say Peter went in first, went into the tomb first. So John was like, I was there catching my breath, and then we went in. And so they see that the resurrection has happened and there's no body in the tomb, and they're they're amazed, and and they go back to the other disciples that are around. But then that's when Jesus appears for the first time, and he appears to Mary, and he's like, I'm I'm I'm back and I'm alive and I've risen, and I need you to go tell everybody that you've seen me. And so he gives the gives the order to Mary, and she is the first one to ever preach the gospel, to preach the good news of Christ returning from the grave and being alive today. Uh so that I always think that's really a point to be made. Jesus could have shown up when Peter and John were there, but he didn't. He waited, and then he showed up just to Mary and told her, and she was the one that got to go and tell everybody that she saw the risen Christ. So pretty interesting story. Did I miss anything? I probably missed some details, but a little bit. A little bit of overview of the Easter story to kind of go through. But anything else that you guys want to add? Talk about? Questions?

SPEAKER_04 33:04

Well, every time that not just during Easter, but anytime we talk about it, I feel like I get I don't

Crucifixion Choice And The Empty Tomb

SPEAKER_04 33:13

know, like the stirring inside, which I don't know if anybody else does, but when we talk about this week, it just it's almost like your heart's fluttering, like you know, like the Holy Spirit is just kind of pulse pulsing a little bit because you're you know what's happening. And over the years, I've tried to put myself in different people's like the people that were all involved in this week. Okay, if I was a disciple, how would I be feeling this week? You know, they're going probably coming in on the beginning of the week, like on a high. Oh, yeah. Like finally, it's a party. Everybody sees what we see, they get it, they get it to starting to go, wait a minute. And then the dinner, like, what do you mean one of us is going to do something wrong? Right. Just that highs and lows, being scared, hiding. Um, I've put myself in the position of Mary. I mean, as a mom, that's pretty easy to do. To just I don't know that she was probably ever partying.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

I think she was probably terrified the whole week because I think she was probably terrified for roughly 30 some years. Like, yeah. Every time the time he was well, from the time she found out she was having him, she was probably like stressed. Yeah, just a lot of stress the whole way through. Like, because oh my gosh, what happens if you accidentally do something and ruin the messiah? Yeah. Like, wait, can I screw this up?

SPEAKER_01 34:44

Jesus' mom. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:46

Yes. But I don't know, it's just kind of maybe something for people to look at, or you know, as they read it, like, okay, even obviously we can't imagine what it's like to be Jesus, but you know, I am I even capable of somebody accusing me of something horrendous and me not fighting back, right? Me just being able to go, this is God's will, and I'm going to just allow it without arguing. You know, I mean, he's up there in front of everybody and they're yelling things like, would I even be capable or strong enough to just stand there and go, Right, I am to stand here quietly, right? And let the let God's will unfold without being like, no, wait, you don't understand. Like I mean, it's just different things that I think about when we talk about this week.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

My my favorite part of this whole story is when they're at Pass the Passover meal, and you know, Jesus is talking about one of you is going to betray me, and he knows exactly which one it's gonna be and what's gonna happen. And he still let Judas eat, he still cleaned Judas's feet. Like it's not it, it's kind of a showing of this is how you're supposed to treat the people who are betraying you or your enemies or whatever. And that's the part that gets me every time is like, oh, this person is making my life difficult, but like I'm still supposed to serve them, I'm still supposed to care about them and treat them like I treat other people, which is wildly more difficult than it should be. But that's what always gets me every time is like Jesus is even like getting ready for the worst thing that can happen. And his immediate response is don't just just say, Hey, this is gonna happen, but don't like call Judas out and be like, get out of here. I don't want to see your face. You know, he's he's feeding, he's making sure he's fed, he's making sure that he's serving him just as well as anyone else, which is what always gets me. It's like we're leading up to the worst part of Jesus' life and what would be anyone's life, and he is actively serving others instead of thinking about that.

SPEAKER_04 37:20

I when I think of the terrible thing that Judas did How him sitting there not saying anything, allowing Judas to do what he's doing, everything you just said, and yet it led, it was still in God's will that something that horrendous, that terrible still led to saving all of humanity. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

Which I think is and that's and that's why when you talk about the story, that's why you get the feelings, you know, whatever how you described it. I don't what'd you say?

SPEAKER_04 37:58

I don't know what how to explain it. You know what I mean? Like my whole body's like tingly.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:02

Because you know what you mean. Ashley, I know you know what I mean. Okay, she is locked in tight with her Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_03 38:12

That comes into my favorite part of the story, is when the veil is torn. Like the power behind that just gets your spirit excited. Like you know that the kingdom of God is near, you know that everything

Serving Enemies And Easter Hope

SPEAKER_03 38:27

he said was true, that he is gonna come back again, that he has conquered death, that it's all like we're not doing this for no reason. There is an end, and God is winning, he's reigning, and he will forever reign.

SPEAKER_01 38:42

Yeah, and that's the exciting part. That's why we get the feelings of joy and the feelings of excitement when we talk about this story, and we talked about the empty tomb. We talk about what Jesus has done because it's all pointing to to the to the end when someday we see the fulfillment of all the things that he's done. Um, we're seeing glimpses right now. We see we get to be a part of this story right now, and we get the hope and we get the joy that he allows us to have through death and resurrection. And like Ashley said, you know, conquered death, conquered sin. He is victorious. And and so I think that's what Easter, we we should be reflecting on that, and why we get these really joyous uh feelings around this time, and we remember the story and we think about how amazing it is, how you know, how unbelievable it really is. But we we do believe it, how unbelievable the story is, and you're like, that's that sounds too good to be true. It sounds a little unbelievable, but you know, once you look into it and you hear about these things, you're like, it it actually happened, and we can have joy and we can have hope because of it. And I think that's why this this Easter time is fun to reflect on and and exciting, and it should help us going forward into the rest of the year of why we do anything. It's because of the resurrection, it's because of we don't have to fear death anymore, we don't have to fear sin, but we have hope and we have joy in what Jesus has done. So yeah, we could talk about a lot of the details, a lot of the Easter story and all these different things. This was just a quick overview of it and some of our thoughts and takes on Easter. So I think that'll be good for this episode. Hope you guys enjoyed. Let us know what you want to talk about next. What are we talking about next episode? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_03 40:26

Are we going back to what's the deal with the spiritual realm?

SPEAKER_01 40:30

What's the deal with? And then so we'll we'll pick up that series next week, once again, with the next topic. Uh, this was just we couldn't pass up not to talk about Easter on Easter week. So all right. Thanks to my wife, Erica, for joining us this morning, and to Brittany and Ashley, as usual. Let me pray and then we'll sign off. Lord, thank you so much for his time. Thank you for opportunities to talk about you, to talk and ask questions and grow. We're thankful for Easter season. We're thankful for the empty tomb, thankful for Christ willingly giving himself up for us uh so we can

Prayer And Closing

SPEAKER_01 41:05

have hope, we can have joy, we can have something to look forward to and know that death is not the end, it's actually the beginning of the new life that you have waiting for us. And so we're thankful for Easter in this time that we can reflect and take that with us. And so be with all those listening this week and all the things that we have going on in our lives. I know that you know, and I ask that you be in those situations and and wherever needed. So in Jesus' name you pray. Amen. All right, thanks everybody, and we'll see you next time on Rush Hour.