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The Good Old Summertime!

When I was a teenager our local radio station used to play an ad at this time of year that went something like, “In the good old summertime, in the good old summertime. Keep your radio on for more fun in the sun, to WARM radio.” Without a doubt we have hit the time of “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.” Yesterday’s temperature was in the 90’s!

I think most of us are happy that the seasons come and go. I know I am. Bring on the summer, but I’ll be more than ready for fall come September. I have aged to the point where I’d be satisfied with a shortened winter season, though. Then back to spring and around we go again.

The summer is vacation season for many. It’s not difficult to understand why. We’ve been “cooped-up” inside over the cold winter months. Now the sun is warm, the pools and beaches are open, the aroma of steaks sizzling on the grill is wafting through the air and the great outdoors is beckoning to us! No more “cabin fever!” In Pennsylvania a local TV newsman used to say we should get outside and “Enjoy, enjoy!”

We all need time to relax and be refreshed. My wife and I didn’t have a lot of money for family vacations when our kids were small. So we had to be creative. We found inexpensive things we could do as a family and in the process created some wonderful memories. We had picnic lunches, went to museums and historical sites, took drives in the country, and the like. There are always things you can do.

Having been a full time pastor for the past 38 years I’ve come to understand that summer season affects the local church also. Church attendance and participation tend to move down a few notches in our sense of what is important. It’s an uncomfortable subject to bring up. On the one side, as I said, we all need some rest & relaxation. But on the other side, we all need the strength that comes from community and worshiping together.

Someone will surely say, “Yes, but I can read my Bible at home.” My comment would be that we should all be doing that AND worshiping together. Another statement I’ve heard is “I’ll just watch Christian TV!” My concern? Christian TV is not a viable substitute for worshiping together. The biblical principle is “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,…” [Hebrews 10:24, 25a] We all have responsibilities to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We need each other.

My recommendation then? Enjoy the summer. Take a vacation. Get outside and enjoy some summertime activities. Just make your home church a vital part of your summer too. Attend, participate, give, sing, worship, serve, and fellowship. You won’t regret it!

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Death, Burial and Resurrection Overview

Without going into an extensive Bible study, allow me to give an overview of the events of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

  • After supper together (the Last Supper) Jesus and the disciples went to a garden they had used often, for prayer. Judas, simultaneously, went off the finalize plans to betray Jesus to the Jewish leaders.
  • After praying off by Himself in the agony of the moment, Jesus committed Himself to God’s will and woke the sleeping disciples.
  • Judas showed up with a small mob of people carrying weapons and gave the fatal sign to Jesus’ enemies – a kiss.
  • Jesus was carried off for a mock trial. He had to actually help the Jewish leaders to convict Him. He was sentenced to die for blasphemy.
  • The Jews didn’t have the authority to carry out His death, so they were forced to take Jesus to Pilot the governor, needing to persuade him to condemn Jesus. Pilot wanted to free Jesus, recognizing His innocence, but feared the crowd who were crying, “Crucify him!”, and send Jesus off to receive a Roman scourging.
  • Jesus was tied to a post, His back exposed, and beaten 39 times with a whip – but not just any whip! This one had pieces of bone and such that tore at the flesh, ripping away chunks of skin, probably even exposing bones and organs. Isaiah’s prophecy tells us that after this beating it was hard to tell that Jesus was a man – a human.
  • Jesus was forced to carry His cross toward the place of crucifixion. He did so till it was more than He could bear. The soldiers then picked a man out of the crowd to carry His cross to Golgotha.
  • On a hill overlooking Jerusalem Jesus was crucified. It was nicknamed “the place of the skull”. Crucifixion was the Roman means of the death penalty. He would have been laid out on the cross, then huge nails would have been driven through His wrists and into the rough-hewn wood. A nail would have been driven into His crossed ankles. After He was secured in this manner, the cross would have been raised up vertically and dropped into a hole dug for that purpose. The condemned would hang like this until, after hours of agony, they died.
  • The Bible says that the sun grew dark as Jesus was raised up on that cross. And it remained dark for three hours, from noon till 3 PM.
  • Jesus made seven important statements from the cross, but probably the most important as far we’re concerned was, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” At this juncture Jesus had all the sin of mankind placed on Him. “He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.” Jesus paid our debt for us at the price of His life.
  • Because the Passover holiday was at hand the Jewish leaders pressed to get Jesus dead and buried quickly. The soldiers were about to brake His legs, making death come quicker, but Jesus commended His spirit to God His Father and cried out with a loud voice, “It is finished!” as He “gave up the ghost” (died).
  • A local rich man asked for the privilege of burying Jesus in his own tomb. With the help of Nicodemus he took the body off the cross, performed some hasty burial preparations, and placed it in his tomb. In order to keep the body of Jesus from being stolen, a huge stone was rolled over the mouth of the tomb and soldiers were placed on guard.
  • So, here is Jesus’ body in the tomb, but where is Jesus? Jesus’ spirit and soul left His body as He cried out in a loud voice and gave up the ghost. Scripture indicates to me that Jesus would have been carried off to hell and torment because of the sin of all mankind placed on Him. He had to trust the Father to rescue Him from there by sending the Holy Spirit to raise Him from death.
  • Jesus also took a quick trip to heaven to present His blood sacrifice in the Holy of Holies in heaven. Adam’s sin had even affected heaven, but Jesus’ sacrifice made all right again.
  • Then, early on a Sunday morning, Jesus returned into His body, still scarred by whip marks and nail prints, and began presenting Himself to those who had believed in Him.

There’s much, much more to say about the resurrection, but time and space press me to move on. So I’ll close with the lyrics to an old Easter hymn:

Up from the grave He arose,

With a mighty triumph o’er His foes.

He arose the Victor from the dark domain,

And He lives forever with His saints to reign.

He arose! He arose! Hallelujah Christ arose!