Three "sidewalks" Jesus traveled on during Easter

Like Christmas, the true meaning of Easter has been replaced in many hearts by a secular holiday full of Easter bunnies and hard-boiled eggs. But today, Fritz wants to bring us back to Jesus, who is the real reason for the Easter celebration. 

He wants to do this by talking about “sidewalks” – roads, if you will – that Jesus traveled on during this final stage of His life on earth:

1. The Road to Jerusalem
2. The Road to Calvary
3. The Road to Galilee

"Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path" (Psalm 119:105)

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Good morning everyone and welcome to 15 minutes with Fritz. As I mentioned in last week's email, I've started to publish these podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio under the tagline Where Scripture Meets the Sidewalk. This is based on Psalm 119 105. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. The idea is to share with a wider audience how God's Word helps us navigate through the ups and downs of everyday life by offering practical guidance for the sidewalk we are on. This week I want to hit the pause button on our study of the one hundred most asked questions about heaven, hell and the afterlife, and talk about Easter. Like Christmas, the true meaning of Easter has been replaced in many hearts by a secular holiday full of Easter bunnies and hard boiled eggs. But today I want to bring us back to Jesus, who is the real reason for the Easter celebration. And I want to do this by talking about sidewalks, roads, if you will, that Jesus traveled on during his final stage of his life on earth. Let's start with the familiar story of the road to Jerusalem, which took place on the Sunday before the Passover. Let me read Matthew's account of this climactic event. As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt beside her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell them that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, say to the daughter of Zion, see your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. When Jesus entered Jerusalem the whole city was stirred and asked, Who is this? The crowds answered, This is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. As a young boy I remember receiving palm branches in my Sunday school class and reciting this story to my mom and dad in the car on the way home from church on Palm Sunday. This was such an amazing event. I didn't understand it at the time, but this story is rich with symbolism. This is the only time recorded in the Bible that Jesus rode on a donkey, which at the time was an accepted means of transportation for kings. We read that people laid their cloaks on the road signaling that they were recognizing Jesus' authority. People cut palm branches and laid them on the road symbolizing victory and independence, and they shouted Hosanna, which means save us now. There is no question that Jesus was finally getting the recognition he deserved. This must have been the high point of his life on earth. Only five days later Jesus walks a completely different sidewalk, the road to Calvary. Listen to Matthew's account of this somber event. Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put on a scarlet rope scarlet robe, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. Hail, King of the Jews, they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. As they were going out they met a man from Cyrene named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull. There they offered Jesus wine to drink mixed with gall, but after tasting it he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots, and sitting down they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him. This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself. Come down from the cross if you are the Son of God. In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. He saved others, they said, but he can't save himself. He's the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God, let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, I am the Son of God. In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him. Now it's impossible for us to imagine the physical pain and agony Jesus endured, as well as the emotional suffering from all the verbal abuse. This event had to be the low point of his life on earth. Lastly, let's look at the third sidewalk, which takes place after Jesus' resurrection. The suffering was over, now it was time to clean up the final loose ends before being taken up to heaven. Here is John's account of what happened during this journey. Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way. Simon Peter, Thomas, called Didimus, Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebede, and two other disciples were together. I'm going out to fish, Simon Peter told them, and they said, We'll go with you. So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, Friends, have you caught any fish? No, they answered. He said, Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these? Yes, Lord, he said, You know that I love you. Jesus said, Feed my lambs. Again Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you truly love me? He answered, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, Take care of my sheep. The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, Do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said, Feed my sheep. Then he said to him, Follow me. It's easy to get caught up in the miraculous here. Fishing all night and not catching anything. Then this stranger tells them to try the other side of the boat and boom, so many fish they couldn't couldn't even haul them into the boat. But while a fish catching is an interesting and amazing event, I want to focus on the exchange between Peter and Jesus. Admittedly, it seems a little repetitive, Jesus asking Peter if he loved him three different times. And Peter answered him the same way three times. Now why would John find it important to record this conversation in the pages of Scripture? Unfortunately, the English translations don't capture the significance of this back and forth discussion. You see, the New Testament was written in Greek, and the Greeks had two different words for love. One word describes love as the kind of warm glow we feel towards those we enjoy spending time with. The other word emphasizes a sacrificial unconditional love, a God kind of love. Inserting these definitions into the conversation, we discover that the first two times Jesus asked Peter, Do you love me with a sacrificial unconditional love? Peter answers yes, he loves Jesus, but with a warm glow kind of love. The third time Jesus asked Peter, Do you love me? He used the other word for love, the warm glow kind of love. In other words, there was no more hiding behind boastful words. Jesus knew Peter's heart, and Peter had to admit, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you with a warm glow kind of love. Now why is this significant? Remember, Peter was the one who declared with great bravado that unlike all the others, he would lay down his life for Jesus. Yet when crunch time came he denied even knowing Jesus. How many times did this happen? Three. And how many times did Jesus ask Peter if he loved him? Three. Because it says that Peter was grieved, I think he put two and two together here when Jesus asked him the third time if he loved him. He finally understood the gravity of his denials. But in spite of all this, Jesus still wanted Peter to be his disciple, to feed his sheep, to follow him, thus demonstrating the depth of his grace, mercy, and forgiveness. So there we have it. Three sidewalks Jesus traveled on during Easter. Each one was unique, and each one served a completely different purpose. The triumphal entry had to be the high point, while the road to Calvary had to be the low point. And the trip to Galilee demonstrated his love for Peter even after his denials. But let's make sure these labels are correct. Was the triumphal entry really the high point of Jesus' earthly ministry? Sure, he was riding into Jerusalem with the people shouting his name in praise. But let's think about this. Why were the people so excited about this man entering Jerusalem? It's because they expected him to be the Messiah, the one who would rescue the Jews from the oppression of the Romans. He would sit on David's throne and rule in his place, and the Jews would be returned to their position of power like they enjoyed when David sat on the throne. But this wasn't the purpose of Jesus' earthly ministry, and everyone got this wrong, even the disciples. The Jews were expecting a conquering king who would leave lead a revolt, but Jesus had told them his mission was to seek and to save what was lost. Not to be a king, but to be a Messiah, a Savior. So this really wasn't the high point of Jesus' time on earth. It was actually the low point. Three and a half years of teaching and no one understood why he had arrived on the scene in the little town of Bethlehem thirty three years earlier. How disappointing. Now what about the road to Calvary? Jesus was arrested and sentenced to be crucified, that had to be the low point. Or was it? Remember he was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He willingly went to the cross to save us. The most famous verse in the Bible emphasizes how important this was. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Without the cross there would be no forgiveness of sins, and without forgiveness of sins there would be no way to reconcile with God, and without reconciliation there would be no eternal life in heaven. As disappointing as it may seem on the surface, walking that road to Calvary had to be the high point of Jesus' earthly ministry because it culminated in the gift of salvation for sinners like you and me. Now I have one last point to make and I think it's really important. The last road, the one to the Sea of Galilee, was significant because it restored Peter after his three denials. But there is one detail in the story that reveals just how important it was. You see, Jesus didn't call Peter on the phone and tell him he was forgiven. He didn't text him a hard emoji and let him know he was still loved or announce his forgiveness on Truth Social. No, reconciling with Peter was so important to Jesus that he walked from Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee just to talk with Peter face to face. Now this wasn't a stroll around the neighborhood, it was a seventy mile, five day journey through the desert just to look Peter in the eye and tell him that he was still his disciple. That's how much Peter meant to Jesus. And the good news is that's how much each one of us mean to Jesus too. Doesn't matter what we've done or what we haven't done, when we seek his forgiveness, Jesus will be there for us, restoring that sweet fellowship with Him. He will come to us no matter where we are. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, Lord, we confess that we often get things upside down. Things we think are good turn out to be bad, and the things we think are bad turn out to be good, and so it is with today's stories. Please open our eyes and our hearts to understand your word more completely, to see your Son Jesus in every page of Scripture. We don't deserve your grace and mercy, and we certainly don't deserve your love, but thanks be to God, you freely give it anyway, and we are grateful. Father, help us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus this Easter. Let us be reminded of His great love for us, giving of Himself so that we can enjoy the riches of heaven. Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice on the cross, and thank you that you conquered death by rising from the dead so that we might enjoy life. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Now in benediction, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for you. This is the end of our podcast, but it's not the end of our story. Thank you for listening.