Denial.

“Peter answered and said to Him, 'Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.' Jesus said to him, 'Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.' Peter said to Him, 'Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!' And so said all the disciples.

... And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, 'Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.' Then he began to curse and swear, saying, 'I do not know the Man!' Immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, 'Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.' So he went out and wept bitterly.” -Matthew 26:21-35, 73-75 (emphasis mine)

...

We have denied the Man who came to save us. We have said that we will never deny Him, even to the point of death we say we will never 'be made to stumble.' But we live in a society that has made it very easy to ignore what the true meaning of this week and this holiday really is, thus denying the God who came to save us.

We have allowed ourselves to become desensitized and calloused to what Jesus did for you and for me. We are no longer moved by the Word when we read of how the Messiah, our Savior was brutally killed for our wrongdoings. Our hearts don't break over the Words:

"when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.... And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified...Then they crucified Him." -Matthew 27

We are so blinded. We have lied to ourselves and said that we are good enough, we don't need a Savior.

But we are wrong.

We are desperately in need of a Savior. He was willing to die for the sins of all humanity, we just need to recognize that we are sinners. How can anyone not recognize that they are imperfect? My sin is apparent to me everyday... but maybe I am the only one.

The Bible tells us in Acts 20:21 that it is through repentance and faith that we can become connected with Christ. Repentance means to sincerely feel badly about what we have done wrong and desire to change. Faith means to believe… to believe that Jesus is God, Lord (we want Him to be in charge of us), that He died on the cross, was buried and rose from the dead three days later.

My prayer this week, as we have prepared to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, is that God would make His sacrifice very real to me. That He would heal my callousness and break my heart over the pain that He suffered for my sake. I have prayed that He would fill me with an unexplainable joy as we celebrate His resurrection. I have prayed that God would help me to recognize that I am not perfect and so much in need of Him, in need of a Savior.

This weekend is not about eggs and bunnies, pretty flowers, and candy.

This weekend represents God, leaving all that was perfect and holy, lowering and humbling Himself to become man... to die an incredibly horrifying, brutal, painful, and shameful death for you and for me. And for three days later, proving that He was God, raise Himself from the dead.

I pray that we will not deny Him this Easter.