Easter is Easy... and Hard
Read Matthew chapter 16, starting in verse 13 and going through the rest of the chapter. Go ahead and read it. I'll wait. No really. Read it real quick. Take your time. I'll be here when you get done. You back yet? You took a little while! But that's okay. Jesus is trying to explain to his precious followers that he is going to have to march into Jerusalem and get murdered. Peter is not okay with this, and Jesus has some strong words to say to him. "There is a plan of God Himself at work here, and you had better not get in the way, Peter." And then he tells Peter, "You, too, will have to throw yourself away and pick up your electric chair and come on if you want to follow me." Whoa. Those are such strong words. Christians quote this verse of denying self and picking up a cross frequently without thinking about what it means. See, saying "deny yourself" is easy. But ignoring what you want is hard. Saying "pick up your cross" is easy. ...