Easter, more real than ever before

Tomorrow is Easter. That's right - bunnies, Easter eggs, baby chickens, chocolate, Jesus resurrection. Whoa! That's right. This is about Jesus, isn't it? I'm helping out with the Easter pageant at Central this year. It's been an interesting experience but one that I wouldn't trade for a million dollars.
I guess I should begin with a confession. I auditioned for the Easter pageant back in December, actually at the request of the pageant director. Needless to say I was rather shocked, angry and disappointed when I was not offered a part when the cast was announced. Basically my attitude when into the depths of crappy – if they didn’t want me to have what in my mind was an “important” part, then I would just not be involved at all.
Suddenly, far into the endeavor, they realized there was no one to do the Jesus makeup. James, who knew my background with theater, mentioned my name as a possibility. But honestly, when they asked, I really didn’t want to help. I was holding on to my bitterness and pride. But, as He often does, God had other plans. He revealed to me that this was where I could give and use the talents and skills He has given me. I could give my time to impact the pageant in a way that was probably far more important than the brief monologue I would’ve had otherwise.
But this still didn’t come without a cost. I am used to being in the spotlight – at the center of things, the star of the show - never the behind the scenes man who does things that a large majority of the people don’t ever know I’ve done. It is here that God has taught me so much, and so much of it through watching and working with Scott, the guy who's playing Jesus. His spirit is so humble and his countenance so sweet. And the man has got to be, no doubt, the most patient person I've ever met! He's been such an amazing example to me and I have learned so much through him.
All that to say that this Easter is more real than an Easter has ever been before. Sure, it's always been about "Jesus" but it's really been about the chocolate eggs and Easter basket. Not this year. Making a man look beaten to death, night after night, and still knowing that it looks nothing even close to as bad as what Jesus would've really looked like as he died for me has not come without its own emotional cost. It's difficult, particularly when I return home, completely physically and mentally exhausted from a day of school, work and then two and a half hours of makeup, an hour and a half performance and an additional thirty minutes to an hour of makeup removal. It is then that I am truly amazed and truly thankful for what Christ endured for me. It is then that I find myself almost in tears imagining what Jesus really endured. How can I even begin to repay the extreme sacrifice and suffering that Jesus went through even if I were the only person on the planet. That's how much God loves me - He was willing to let His son die for me. That, my friends, is incredibly cool and something that I will never fully comprehend.


Thank you, God, for the opportunity to serve you in the Easter Pageant this year. And thank you for all that you have taught me through it, through Scott and through the others that I am privileged enough to work with. But most of all, thank you for the vivid and real reminder of the sacrifice that you made for me on that first Easter and even more so for the glorious image of your Ressurrected body on that third day. That, God, is why I celebrate Easter this year more meaningfully than ever before.