Life Beside Christ
Life Beside Christ
When Death Isn't Final: Understanding Easter's True Meaning
The resurrection of Jesus Christ stands as the most pivotal moment in human history—a supernatural event that transformed death into life and despair into hope. In this deeply reflective episode, we explore the full spiritual significance of Easter weekend, from the crucifixion through the empty tomb to the appearances of the risen Christ.
What exactly did Jesus mean when He declared "It is finished" on the cross? We unpack this powerful statement through the lens of ancient debt cancellation, revealing how Christ's sacrifice paid humanity's spiritual debt in full. The conversation takes us through Good Friday's darkness, the disciples' Saturday confusion, and the Sunday morning discovery that changed everything.
The empty tomb presents compelling evidence for Jesus's resurrection—Roman guards, linen grave clothes, and multiple eyewitness accounts combine to validate Christianity's most extraordinary claim. We consider how the disciples, particularly Peter, responded to news of the resurrection, and what their reactions teach us about authentic faith today.
Beyond theological concepts, we wrestle with practical faith questions: Why is patience so difficult in our relationship with God? How should we handle angry prayers during times of doubt? And perhaps most profoundly—why do we truly want to go to heaven? Is it simply to avoid hell, or is there something deeper in the Christian longing for eternity?
Join us for this heart-level conversation about Easter's meaning, and discover why the resurrection remains as relevant to your daily struggles, doubts and hopes today as it was two thousand years ago. Because when Jesus conquered the grave, He changed not just history, but your story too.
We love hearing from our listeners whether it's criticism, advice, or just thoughts on the conversation we had. Find us or reach out to us here:
•Email: lifebesidechristpod@gmail.com
•Instagram: @lifebesidechristpodcast
•Intro/Outro Music: "Our Days" by David Hays
welcome back to the life beside christ podcast. We are man a little over a month since the last release, but it's been since december, since carter's been with us right, we are back almost. We are back, almost, almost, all the way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when you been Carter.
Speaker 2:Oh, been learning a little bit about the law. There you go Police Academy for the last, so not Jewish law. No, no, no about what people should be or shouldn't be doing, I guess. Okay, yeah, for the past I I guess 15 weeks now I've been down at belleville police academy. Got one more week to go, one more ready for it to be over with um, got oc spray monday.
Speaker 1:So that's something to look forward to, I guess you asked them to record it and send it to us like, so we can see it well, I don't think we can.
Speaker 2:We have, to like, lock up our phones so nobody records it.
Speaker 3:That's unfortunate yeah, so I keep hearing oc spray, what's I mean? I referred to it as pepper spray or mace, but that's a commoner. What's oc?
Speaker 2:I don't know what oc stands for something.
Speaker 3:Control me look that up. Sounds like a few more weeks of training needs to happen. Yeah, come on, 15 weeks and you don't even know what OC stands for. Something control me. Sounds like a few more weeks of training needs to happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, come on 15 weeks and you don't even know what it means. Oc spray.
Speaker 3:I did have it suggested to me that if they were to bid off, auction off the ability to OC oc, spray your own children that they might actually be able to make some money on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, try and read that. Have you found it? Capsaicin, capsaicin um cool, sure, or?
Speaker 3:leeson.
Speaker 2:So that's why they say oc, it makes sense, it hurts.
Speaker 1:I've heard we are also joined by David Hayes, who's not been on for a good while either, but we're always happy to have him on. I always feel like when you're with us, david, that it's kind of your podcast because you're so much more knowledgeable. So it's just of your podcast because you are so much more knowledgeable. So it's just like another time where I just get to sit there and listen to you share it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and for me, I like just asking you guys what you think, because I'm not the world's authority on all things. Jesus, god didn't put me in that position. I'm old, older, and so I've studied a little more. But it's interesting and I can gain perspective from you guys and go man, yeah, that makes some sense. Let's think about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the? Did you have more to say? Nope.
Speaker 2:Okay, just trying to wake up. Okay, woke up about 30 minutes ago. There you go.
Speaker 1:So on the docket today is to kind of just, I guess, talk about the resurrection and Easter, what the meaning of Easter is, and kind of break that down a little bit more hopefully.
Speaker 2:Heck yeah.
Speaker 1:It's good news, brother. Yeah, so this weekend is Easter weekend, and that's kind of the plan for the discussion today.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we're actually meeting here on saturday saturday 19th, so yesterday was good friday, so I had to give us some context of where we're at. Yeah, what was going?
Speaker 1:on. Yeah, I guess we can start there with good friday. Um, I didn't really, up until even now, like this year I was like this year is the most thought I put into like the meaning of good Friday or the it sounds bad Cause it's like that's the day that Jesus was crucified, but like as I didn't, I haven't always been a christian, so like easter weekend, never really was a day for chocolate, yeah and you heard about stuff, but it wasn't something that, um, I guess I put a lot of my thought into until yeah, unfortunately, uh, a lot of people don't, and I would even say a lot of folks who consider themselves christians.
Speaker 3:In the christian faith don't you? And the reason I say that is you can see a whole lot more going on at christmas, yeah, than you can at easter, and while the birth of Jesus is obviously important, we need him to be born if we need him to die. But what he did, this what we call Easter weekend Maundy Thursday, good Friday, easter Eve or Holy Saturday and then Easter. If that don't happen, you know, he's just another, another guy right and, yeah, that's what I've heard other people say.
Speaker 1:It's like other people were crucified. There are two people that are crucified next to him, but the part that makes it as big as it is is the resurrection and, and I guess, the reason he came.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's kind of interesting to put yourself in his apostles' place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what were they doing today? Yeah, that's what I was just looking at.
Speaker 3:It was like what would you do? A lot of them were hiding what they were doing. They were scared and so we had talked about this a little bit pre-podcast. But Jesus was crucified yesterday, yeah, and he proclaims that it's finished and dies and he's buried. And they're like now what?
Speaker 1:Yeah, he just said it's finished what's finished. Right.
Speaker 3:And they go into hiding because they think well, jesus has just been murdered and we could be next. And they could into hiding because, they think, well, jesus has just been murdered and we could be next. And they could have been, and, frankly, they all were later. All but one was martyred. But you think we have Good Friday, which I don't. Know a lot of people that spend a lot of time celebrating Good Friday. And then we kind of go okay back to our lives.
Speaker 3:It's Saturday, but in Jesus' time they're like what just happened, what's going on, and of course we know what happens tomorrow morning the story, but for the most part they went into hiding and were confused it's like this is our Savior, this is the guy that came to save us.
Speaker 1:I think of just the uncertainty in my day-to-day life or future, I guess and I can't put myself in their shoes of them leaving for the most part their old life to follow Jesus, and then he's crucified and killed and they're like, yeah, I can't imagine the headspace You've followed for the last so many years, you've given up everything because that's what you believe in.
Speaker 2:What do you do now? I feel like that's I don't know, it'd be a tough's what you believe in, right. What do you do now?
Speaker 1:I feel like that's like I don't know, it'd be a tough headspace to be in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can't imagine losing your job and be like, okay, what do I do now? This is their whole life and they've given up all this stuff. Yeah, I don't know how they'd feel. That's crazy.
Speaker 3:But even beyond that and, like you said, they've dedicated their lives to following Jesus, even though they sometimes don't do it very well, just like we don't. Prior to that, peter is told to get behind Jesus called Satan and he denies Jesus, so he goes through the same struggles we do. But they've witnessed, they've seen with their own eyes the miracles that Jesus has performed, all the good, all the people who are coming to hear Jesus speak and accepting Jesus. And then he's gone, and so I'm sure they were sitting around just like this.
Speaker 3:If they'd have had microphones and headphones, they might have been podcasting it, but they were trying to figure out what's next, yeah, what do we do?
Speaker 1:And it's one thing, I guess, to look back 2,000 years later and you have the whole story in this book. But even Jesus is like I've told you all of this was going to happen and then still be surprised by it and like, yeah, I probably would be surprised just as much and not. It's easier, I guess, maybe from us to say like, well, yeah, jesus said it and you guys just kind of ignored it, whatever, but we all would have felt the same.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think just more like denying, like same thing with human, like we don't want people to leave us for probably selfish reasons, yeah, um, but just that uncertainty, I think is just like scary, oh yeah. So I think it's just the human side coming out and I don't't like just Jesus being human. But doing these miracles is like what the heck Right That'd be.
Speaker 3:Well, and they perform miracles as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in Jesus' name yeah.
Speaker 3:So they know the power of Jesus. But there's this confusion, this fear that now he's been killed. And to your point, Levi, we have the chance.
Speaker 2:We don't all take advantage of the opportunity, but we have the chance to be the most enlightened people in history because we're further down the road in history.
Speaker 3:We can look back, we have the advantage of hindsight, and so we can look back and see what happened, and see what Jesus said prior and go geez how did I get that? Yet there's things going on in our very lives today that we question.
Speaker 2:We go.
Speaker 3:Lord, I prayed for this and I didn't get it. What's going on? Are you there? Hello, hello, are you there? But once we get down there a little farther, we can turn around and look back and go oh, this, what I got was better it's.
Speaker 1:You know, we just don't always see god's plan so I those were a couple questions I had written down to talk about later. It was that kind of very thought and maybe we can come back to that. But that's a good point, um, so I guess to kind of give a little bit more to what's going on. So the good friday, that day, well, it was leading up to the passover, um, so there's a lot of people in jerusalem, a lot of crowds, and then the sanhedrin, the jewish leaders, are kind of going after jesus. They're passing him back and forth after they arrest them, they're passing back and forth between pilot and herod. They're trying to get either one of them to basically kill Jesus.
Speaker 1:Um, and it eventually comes down to Pilate making the decision. Um, after the Jewish leaders kind of convinced him and turned, turned the story into well, you can't really be loyal to Caesar if you're gonna let this guy who calls himself a king to just go free. And it was eventually like, okay, pilate was not wanting to do this, he didn't think that Jesus had any of these crimes that were worth the punishment that the Sanhedrin or the Jewish leaders were asking for. And then he comes to the point where he says, okay, well, this year Passover, I let you guys release one of our prisoners, I'll let you pick and they all chose Barabbas over Jesus and they said crucify him. And that part still just blows my mind, that you have a guy who is healing people, feeding people, doing all these other miracles, and then you have a guy that's doing the opposite killing people, leading insurrections, stuff like that and you choose the guy that's the murderer to release and have the the other killed.
Speaker 1:Um, and I always think back and I'm sure people bring it up a lot, but the thought of barabbas it's easy to be like, well, barabbas was an awful human being, but it's very like symbolic. I guess that jesus died for barabbas but same time he died for everyone. It wasn't just in place of barabbas, it was for all of us, like, like people have said, like we are essentially barabbas, like barabbas was the placeholder for all of us. In that sense that's pretty. It's pretty. It just kind of hurts to think about a little bit.
Speaker 3:It certainly convicts you of the life you lead, even though maybe you're not a murderer, maybe you're not an insurrectionist, but we're all still sinners. Jesus was perfect, and so that's what makes part of what makes this so tragic, is that well, so I'd go back and think about those who were saying free Barabbas and crucify Jesus.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 3:I think about today. Do we see anything in the news where there are people who are picking the wrong people to back in a criminal situation? We see it all the time. We see GoFundMe pages for the criminal raise just ridiculous amounts of money. And the victim it's like that's on you, that's your problem, we've got to save this guy or that guy. We choose these causes. We get blinded to good and evil, right and wrong, for whatever reason, and they were too for many reasons one being that Jesus was a threat to their power and their structure.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:But also because it's human nature to want things the way you want them. And instead of hey, let's maybe step back and look at this and go. What would you know? They didn't have the little jelly bands back then. That said, what would Jesus do?
Speaker 2:Yeah. And you know, even though they had witnessed his miracles and knew that he had done nothing wrong.
Speaker 3:It didn't matter, because he was a threat.
Speaker 2:And we can do that in our own lives.
Speaker 3:It's like you know, I can't speak for you two but in my life there have been times where it's like boy, I know what's right, but it sure is easier to do what's wrong, or I want what I want. You know, sin is an awful thing, but sin feels good, tastes good, smells good for a reason. If it didn't, we could all go no, no. If sin tasted like hominy, I wouldn't have any part of it, but it doesn't.
Speaker 3:And so they were falling into the same thing sin it's the root of all of this. But you doesn't. And so they were falling into the same thing sin it's the root of all of this. But you're right, it is a conviction of us to think not only did Jesus die in Brava's place, but he died for him so that he could live if he chose. If he chose to accept Jesus.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:He could do so.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So then we get to the crucifixion, and I'm going to try not to butcher this too much, but I'm going to read out of John, john 16 through 30. So finally, pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus Carrying his own cross. He went out to the place of the skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him and with two others, one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
Speaker 1:Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city and the sign was written in Aramaic, latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate Do not write the King of the Jews, but that this man claimed to be the King of the Jews. Pilate answers what I have written. I have written.
Speaker 1:When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them With the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven into one piece from top to bottom. Let's not tear it, they said. Let's decide by lot who will get it. This happened and the scripture might be fulfilled. That said, they divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. So this is what the soldiers did.
Speaker 1:Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, mary, the wife of Lopez and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her woman here's your son. And to the disciple here's your mother. From that time on, his disciple took her into his home. Later, knowing that everything had now been finished and so that scripture would be fulfilled, jesus said I am thirsty. A jar of wine, vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, and the sponge on a stalk of the high-sop plant was that right High-sop plant, and lifted it up to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, jesus said it is finished With that. He bowed his head and gave up to his spirit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so Jesus says it is finished. Yeah, so what's he talking about? What's finished, so is it?
Speaker 2:I'm dead I'm gone, it's over.
Speaker 3:Uh, it was fun while it lasted yeah uh, this is the end.
Speaker 2:It's the end of the world we know it's not the end of the world right, we're here two thousand some odd years later.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we know it wasn't the end of jesus life, because the easter story tells us that he was resurrected. So what was finished? And the reason I pose that is I actually played a couple songs at a Good Friday service yesterday and the pastor was speaking about this very thing and he put into context in that time, if you owed a debt, and you couldn't pay it, you got sent to debtor's prison until your debt was paid. And the question becomes well, how do I pay my debt if I'm in prison? You, don't.
Speaker 3:Someone else does.
Speaker 2:And they would show up if they loved you or cared about you or wanted to free you, and they would pay your debt and then they would mark on the receipt, so to speak.
Speaker 3:It is finished, it's done, the debt's been paid, and that's what Jesus was saying. It's not over the debt's been paid, and that's what Jesus was saying.
Speaker 2:It's not over.
Speaker 3:Your life's not over. We know that we'll live by accepting Jesus Christ. We'll live for eternity, but your debt's been paid. This business is finished, which is pretty powerful to me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's.
Speaker 3:You're all indebted, every one of you, not just the ones previous to Jesus or in Jesus' time, but all those that were going to come after Jesus, including the three around the table, and Jesus' act in that time paid the debt. Yeah, we never have to serve a day in quote-unquote debtor's prison, which is pretty nice.
Speaker 1:Pretty crazy yeah.
Speaker 3:It humbles you which all of Christianity humbles you, but it humbles you to the point that you're like. I sure wish I could be better. You're right, I wish I'd never sinned because of what was paid on my behalf. I wish I had the ability to just be perfect and go. I'm showing you how much I love you by never sinning again, but that's not the case, and God knew that. That's why Jesus was sent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sometimes you've kind of check yourself and you feel like you're taking advantage of what jesus did for you all of us and letting it not letting it go to waste but not doing what you know you should be or shouldn't be doing, and feel like you're you should be or shouldn't be doing and feel like you're, you know, taking advantage of it and not living up to what you're supposed to.
Speaker 3:So your word choice is interesting, so we should take advantage of it. That's the point, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's why God did it so we could take advantage of this gift yeah.
Speaker 3:But to take it for granted is what I think we all feel like once in a while. It's like I love Jesus Christ and I will say it and I will tell anybody about him, but I'll also do some things to go. What am I doing?
Speaker 2:Why did I do that? Why did?
Speaker 3:I say that and then you're like, okay, let's refocus, try again. And that's our life experience, that's what's going to happen until we step over to the other side. We're going to fight that and the doubt that we have. That's Satan at work. Jesus has paid it and that's, I think, for new Christians and even older.
Speaker 3:Christians or more mature Christians one of the biggest challenges is to not dismiss our sin, to take responsibility for it, but to know that it's covered and live in joy, because what can happen is you can live in sorrow or conviction. You know where. You're just beating yourself up all the time Like I'm terrible, I'm the worst person. Jesus died for me on the cross, resurrected on the third day and I just act like a fool. Or you can say Jesus did that so that my sins are covered. And now I'm going to talk to people about Jesus and tell them how wonderful he is and I'm going to enjoy my life.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to sit around beating myself over the head because I told a white lie, or I gossiped, or whatever the case may be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the thought is there to want to be perfect. Yeah, but I know how I and I'm just speaking for just myself if I hit a better golf shot than y'all, I'm like, hey, here's see, I like to keep my elbow tucked here. This is how you do it. If I was perfect and doing it, I just want to have no sin and just be as good as I can for Jesus, I think that would go right in my head and be like why are these people, why these people are lower?
Speaker 1:than me.
Speaker 2:That's a human thing. It might just be me, I don't know, but I think pride would get to you. So, not like sin keeps you where you're supposed to be, but you know that you rely on Jesus to get to heaven, you can't do it, it's Jesus that's getting you there. Can't do it, it's it's jesus that's getting you there. Um, so yeah, I, I just think sin is there for us, really, and jesus is there to save us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would. It's when you can step back, I guess, after going through something or realizing okay, I messed up there, it's just. It's just a very humbling thing and it it always seems to come when you are feeling not like. You're like oh I'm better than these people, but feeling like, maybe even like about yourself, like okay I'm doing. I've been pretty good lately.
Speaker 2:I've kind of turned away from this sin that I've turned to a lot or whatever and I've been good about it, and then you get knocked down just when you think you're okay, I don't have to worry about it anymore, and then, freaking, knock down to your knees again that's uh.
Speaker 3:So, carter, you said, maybe it's just you. If it's just you, you're pretty special, because the bible talks about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3:So if it was written just for you, that's pretty sweet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very useful.
Speaker 3:But, basically paraphrasing it says you can't take pride in what you didn't do and that's why we can't earn it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:We don't deserve it. We can't earn it. We don't deserve it. We can't earn it. If we could earn it, if it was all works and I could go out and do more good works than everybody else well then I would become prideful, just like you said.
Speaker 2:I would go see.
Speaker 3:I outworked all of you. I'm a better Christian than you, so God being way smarter than us, says no you can't earn it, it's a gift you know much like a gift we give to each other and you're like oh, you shouldn't have. You know, we didn't earn it, don't deserve it. But here you go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank God, and you can't take pride in that you can't go see.
Speaker 3:see, God loves me more because it's for everybody, Right. Not everyone will take advantage of it. Some will deny it, Some will turn away from it.
Speaker 2:But it's there.
Speaker 3:It's been given.
Speaker 3:Now it's up to us. So if you're new to this podcast or new to Christianity, the folks listening do they know what we're talking about and the reason that never would have occurred to me before. But I had never interacted with anyone that had no idea about Jesus, what he did, until recently. And you think, boy, you got to start way back, yeah, and start, you know, at the beginning and lay that groundwork. And it's like if someone's listening to this podcast and they don't know anything, so what are we talking about? What happened here?
Speaker 3:We know that Jesus Christ was born. He was born on purpose to ultimately die for our sins. But he grew up, he had a three-year ministry, performed lots of miracles, taught, had apostles that he taught, that later went on to be great leaders of churches and great evangelists. But he was arrested and, as we talked about, tried and eventually crucified. And then, well, why was he crucified? Because he needed to be resurrected. So, easter, you know he was resurrected on that day. But why was he resurrected? He's resurrected for us, you know like we're talking about for the forgiveness of our sins. He dies on the cross for our sins and he's resurrected to show that death has been overcome, yeah.
Speaker 3:And so that we can all partake in that.
Speaker 1:I not to backtrack on the resurrection, but I just because we talked about it before and you asked if I had seen the Passion of the Christ and just imagining the crucifixion and like even their portray can even try to understand how painful all that is and then to do it, to do it willingly is, is just as powerful, I guess too. And it's like I, you know, how can we not be thankful for that? And it kind of goes like hey, how do I let myself not remember that all the time? And why do I only think about it more around this time of year or on Christmas, and not in the middle of July or whenever? Yeah, it's.
Speaker 3:We can read about stories of men who have sacrificed themselves for others, and the Bible says there's no greater love than the one who should lay down his life for his friends.
Speaker 3:It happens with guys who won the Congressional Medal of Honor and different things and even more than that, but that's a common one that we see. So we know that love for others can be a powerful thing. But the amazing thing about Jesus is, first off, he is perfect. He had never sinned and he was doing it not just for the 12 people around him, but for all who had come before and all who would ever come. He'd never met them. I've never met Jesus. I hope to see his face someday. I plan on seeing his face someday. But he lays down his life for not only for us, who will accept it and appreciate it, but for the ones who won't.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's the ones who put them on the cross, the ones that, yeah, you know all of it crazy.
Speaker 3:Yeah it's. It would be much easier and I ain ain't saying it would be easy. I'm saying it would be much easier to lay down your life for your family, who love you and you love, than it is to lay down your life for complete strangers who may just go well, that was stupid. Why did he do that? But that's what he did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I liked what you said earlier with the. We needed him to be born and we needed him to die. I've never really thought about it like that. I mean he came, showed us faith, hope and love and just leaving us with that I mean with the greatest of those being love but needed him to die for us. That makes a lot of sense in my head. I've just never heard that, I guess, put into words. Um, a good little message there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I heard, uh, uh, I think it was on Instagram or something where a young girl said have they ever found the remains of Jesus? Because they found the remains of some biblical characters or biblical figures, and it's kind of a funny thing. It's like no, no, that's the point. Yeah, If they did this whole thing's in vain.
Speaker 3:Yeah, if Jesus' body is laying somewhere in a grave, then we're all doomed. Yeah, if they did this whole thing's in vain. Yeah, if Jesus' body is laying somewhere in a grave, then we're all doomed. Yeah, so you're not going to find Jesus' remains here on earth. Because Jesus was resurrected, he came back to life. He spent three days in hell, and that's another thing that people don't often think about is what was Jesus doing for those three days? Yeah, he was in hell. It wasn't like just hanging out on vacation waiting for the resurrection. Yeah, he was going through hell.
Speaker 1:I looked through that. I guess 1 Peter 3. It was one that came across while I was looking up. It says 1 Peter 3 uh, I guess I'll start at 18 for christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous. Bring you to god. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits, to those who were disobedient long ago and when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. And I think I mean, unless I'm misinterpreting that, is that one of the points where they're writing about what Jesus was doing during those days?
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's a lot in 1 Peter about Jesus and living a godly life, living sin-free, mm-hmm. Well, so if you go, 1 Peter 2, beginning, let's see, let's begin in the 21st verse.
Speaker 3:It says To this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed, for you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. You know laying out this idea, reinforcing what we've been talking about Completely sinless.
Speaker 2:So when you watch a movie, it could be an action movie or whatever, it doesn't matter but the hero.
Speaker 3:What makes the movie so intense and almost every movie does this is the hero starts out and he's winning, and he's winning, and he's winning, and then all of a sudden he's losing and we all go, oh no, oh no, the bad guy's going to win, win. And then eventually the hero breaks out of there and and but. But what makes that so tragic to us? That the hero getting caught is he's the good guy. We don't like to see bad things happen to good people, and that's the same way in real life. We don't like to see bad things happen to good people. Well, who's gooder? Quote unquote than Jesus.
Speaker 3:There is no gooder, there is no good, frankly. But Jesus is perfect. Jesus, not only is he good, he's great, and he's perfect and blameless. And so to see this happen to him, our hero in this case, it's like that's the ultimate denial of God is taking someone that's blameless. It would be akin to when we see the death of a child, for instance. It's like they did nothing wrong.
Speaker 3:They were just born and whatever be it an accident or a disease or whatever it crushes us because they did nothing wrong. The same thing with Jesus. As we get older you're 90 years old it's easier to take that. It's like well, they lived a good life and we don't count them as blameless. They lived their life. We're sinners. It makes it easier if they're Christians, if they accepted Jesus, but that idea of someone who is completely blameless, did nothing wrong, Innocent Innocence that's right.
Speaker 3:It's hard on us if we're good people, If we have a moral compass. We don't like to see that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I guess we get to. Jesus was buried. I saw, I'm pretty sure, let me make sure I have the right spot here. But, um, I saw someone talking about this and I was like, is that true? And it was kind of funny. So I went to the book of John. I guess I've been in the book of John. I'm going to read this where the tomb is empty. So I'm starting, john, chapter 20.
Speaker 1:Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple the one who Jesus loved and said they have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they have put him. So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over, looked at the strips of linen laying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight to the tomb. He saw the strips of linen laying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around jesus's head. The cloth was still laying in its place separate from the linen.
Speaker 1:Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first, also inside. He saw and believed. They still did not understand from scripture that jesus had to rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to where they were staying and that's all like part of this important part that jesus had risen. But the person that I was listening to pointed out that john's gospel and writing of it is funny because he keeps I was trying to like not to laugh reading it he keeps saying the other disciple and I was looking up and I was trying to figure out and I guess so we for the most part understand that when john is writing and says the other disciple, he's talking about himself. So he keeps saying the other disciple who was faster or who got there first and all this like stuff that he loved, that Jesus loved and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:But it's like it's a funny thing to throw in there but to say I was faster than Peter, I got there first, that's funny. It was. I thought that was funny to just keep throwing in there multiple times, but obviously an important part of the whole story of Jesus and his body not being there being the resurrection.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And when you go back and look at what? So Jesus is buried in this tomb and Roman guards are put in place yeah, to guard it, because the decide, or the, the sanhedrin and the, they, they, they have this idea that we need to guard that because otherwise his disciples will come, steal his body and then they'll swear that he's alive. It'll be an Elvis thing. And by doing so, they give us this great proof that he is alive. Because by putting those guards in place, so the guards get questioned. What happened to his body? It was great, nobody came and stole it, yeah, well, and so people say why do you?
Speaker 3:How can you believe in the resurrection? Why do you believe in that? Well, that's one of the reasons it was guarded. The tomb was guarded, we know. No one came in and stole his body. He was raised from the dead. When you put a body in a tomb and roll a large stone in front of it, seal it and guard it with soldiers, and then you show up on the third day and it's not there, something happened. Well, what happened, god? God, happened Just like he said he raised him from the dead.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then we also know sorry you're good um, that he appears to plenty of people over. I always get it mixed up. Is it over the next 40 days or 40 times? I couldn't 40 days. Okay, I always get that one mixed up. Um, he appeared over to plenty of people and his disciples and others um yeah, I love the part.
Speaker 3:So he appears to mary magdalene yeah, ask her why she's crying and there's lots of theories. He appears to his disciples walking on the road together and they don't know him. Yeah, and there's lots of theories on that. Well, the last time they saw him, he was hanging on a cross, bloodied and battered, and now he's a risen Savior, so he looked completely different. That's one theory. However, we know that the scars and the holes in his hands and in his side were still there, because when he appears to the disciples and Thomas isn't there the first time and they tell him about it, he's like I'll have to put my hands into the wounds before.
Speaker 2:I believe it.
Speaker 3:And so he appears again and Thomas is there and Jesus invites him to do so. So we know that the wounds were still there. So it's interesting. It's one of those questions that again doesn't pertain to my salvation. I'm not going to miss out on salvation because I don't know the answer, but it's one of those that I feel like I'll be interested in is what was going on? Why did they not?
Speaker 2:know, him.
Speaker 3:Because he appears. You know they're behind a locked door and he just appears in the room with him. So we know that Jesus was physically present, but he was also walking through walls.
Speaker 1:Now we also know that Jesus was fully human and fully God so he could have done that prior to the resurrection as well, if you can walk on water.
Speaker 3:you can probably walk through walls, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that would be a good scary movie. Uh-oh Gotcha, yeah, I guess just the one. Sorry, I was kind of off uh topic.
Speaker 2:But the one part that stuck out to me to this whole thing was the angel, or sorry, matthew, 28, uh, it's b5 through 7, uh. The angel said to the woman, like being mary, do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who is crucified. He is no longer here. He has risen. Just as he said, come and see the place where he lay, then go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him now. I have told you like, can you imagine? Like the holy crap. And then, like I ran pretty quick, a mile and a half, like pretty quick. I think I could beat that time so fast I'd be flying.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh my gosh he's back, let's go get him Okay, go see what's up, holy crap, go get him. Okay, go see what's up, holy crap. I'd be so just flying off the wall, I'd be pumped, just to see him again. I mean, I can't imagine. And an angel just like yeah, that would be what's going on?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's good to hear you say that that you would run joyously looking for Jesus Because some people would go. It's just fake, Do I?
Speaker 2:believe this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know. It's like I don't know about all this stuff. Yeah, you have the correct reaction. It's like look, I have this chance to see Jesus again and, even though I witnessed his brutal death on the cross, I'm gonna believe and I'm gonna run as fast as I can to to be reunited with jesus. And I think that's what we're all doing in a way here today and in our lives is running as fast as we can to be reunited with Jesus. Now it's a slow run.
Speaker 2:Yeah right.
Speaker 3:For some of us it's 100 years, for some of us it's a couple months. Unfortunately the baby's passed and things like that. But that's the goal. I mean, do you ever consider why this is so important to you? Most people say, well, because I want to go to heaven. Why, why? What's the reason? Why do you want to go to heaven? Some people would say well, because I want to avoid hell.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Hell's terrible.
Speaker 2:The alternative.
Speaker 3:But beyond that, why do you really want to go to heaven?
Speaker 3:Another answer would be well, I want to be reunited with loved ones who have passed, grandparents and parents and, whatever that case is, husbands and wives and that kind of stuff, but ultimately it's what Carter just said I want to run to Jesus, I want to thank him, I want to worship him, I want to adore him, I want him to know how much I love him because he loved me, getting to spend time in the presence of God. We almost can't even get our mind around what that would be like, but it's different for everybody. Why do you want to go to heaven? Is it just to avoid the consequence of hell? That's a good reason, but it's not maybe the best reason.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hmm, yeah, I don't think I've ever heard that question before.
Speaker 3:It's one of those things that we just know we want to go to heaven.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:We don't give a lot of thought of why, other than to avoid hell. But certainly you know your loved ones.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know this chance to see them again, to be reunited, but then ultimately to be reunited with. God to be in the presence of God. We think of paradise. That's appealing. There's lots of things appealing about heaven, obviously. Everything about heaven is appealing. But why do we fight? And when I say fight, I mean fight against our sinful nature, fight our human condition, what we want, what would satisfy us in the moment. Why do we fight against that, our whole lives? To get to heaven?
Speaker 1:I think I've talked about it before.
Speaker 1:But especially since I've known you guys and started going to church with you guys and obviously gotten to know you guys more and become, I guess, deeper into my faith, the idea around the word love has changed in my head a lot.
Speaker 1:It was before it was like say it to people you care about, right, they love you, like you, just, whatever. But it's a completely different thing than just saying it to something and that's what like as you were saying, that like as much as I love seeing my family, as much as I love seeing my family, we have a father who has seen our life before we even were born and has helped us along every step of it and has never left us as much as we felt like we've left him at times or gone through things. And it's like you feel all that love and to think about it and it's just like you just want to be surrounded by all of it forever and and to be like in it, not trying to let yourself convince yourself that maybe that you don't deserve it or that someone else should get more of it from God or something like that, and it's just like there's enough of God, enough of his love for all of us and to just be like. That's what I would love, to just be in.
Speaker 3:You think about God the Father.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:He knows me better than my father, my earthly father. Right, there are things that my earthly father doesn't know about me and never will know about me, but there's nothing that God the Father doesn't know about me and he still loves me, and it's a great idea that you present of this being surrounded by love, being constantly loved and knowing it, not having to question is there some other reason that this person here on earth is treating me the way they are? It's nothing but pure love. I'm going to get off a little bit, but it's the same thought. So I was driving home a couple of weeks ago. I got to thinking about Brady and Carter and Emma and different things, and I got to thinking about how important I used to be to them.
Speaker 3:And this isn't a dig this is the way life works and the way we raise our children. For it to work, I got to thinking. I used to be. I and their mother used to be everything to them.
Speaker 3:They completely relied on us for food, for hygiene, for know when to go to sleep, when to get up, everything, and so I was immensely important to them. As they grow up, I become less and less important to them. Now that sounds harsh. It doesn't mean that they love me less and less. It means they rely on me less and less, and that's a good thing. And it's the same with you and your parents. It's a good thing. That's what I raised them to do as a parent. It's kind of a sucky thing, because you want to be important, you want to be. It's like I need to be involved. They need me, don't? They know they need me and they don't call as much. They got their own life going on. Carter's down at Belleville, brady's got two kids and a job and Emma's finishing college and thinking about getting a job and all these things. So that's a natural progression. We're not going to talk as much as we once did and so again it sounds harsh, but I'll become less and less important to them as time goes on.
Speaker 3:Not less and less loved, but less important. They'll have more important or more pressing things in their life. Maybe important is not the right word. And so I came home I told them. I said just know, you're always going to be important to me. Because it doesn't work that way from parent to child. The child always remains important to the parent, because that's our life.
Speaker 3:It's like you're our children and then grandchildren and whatever. And so I think about guys like sometimes we can, like you said, turn away or make him less important to us for a moment or a day or a week or when we're going through something, or, but we're never not important to God. Yeah, it doesn't mean we don't love God, doesn't mean that don't love God, it doesn't mean that the love's not there, but it does mean that we can put Him on the back burner because we got something else we need to take care of.
Speaker 3:And that's unfortunate. Now, in the human side, in my analogy of me and my children, it makes sense. They're going to have their families and they're going to have that. And the Bible tells us, you know, that Carter will meet someone someday and the two will become one flesh and she will be more important than his parents and he'll move away. That's the way it's supposed to happen in nature and in biblical sense. So I'm not mad about it, but it was just kind of a yeah, that makes sense. I have put God on the back burner. That don't mean that I've never that.
Speaker 3:There's a point where God said well, david's not important right now Right, and you guys will see that when you have children. It's an interesting dynamic. But one thing that was kind of a sidebar, but one thing Carter talking about if he was told hey, go here and you'll see Jesus.
Speaker 3:And he would break his mile and a half time easily. The reason I say that you have the right perspective is if you go to John, chapter 21, beginning in the fourth verse, it says early in the morning and this is, jesus has been resurrected and he's starting to appear to his disciples. It says early in the morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Now the disciples are out fishing and he called out to them friends, haven't you any fish? No, they answered. Now the disciples are out fishing. It is the Lord. As soon as Simon Peter heard him say it is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him, for he had taken it off, and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat. That's kind of a funny Peter's like I'm going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's his boat.
Speaker 3:Yeah, jesus is there. See you guys, I'm out.
Speaker 2:He did.
Speaker 3:He pulled a Carter, I'm going to break my 50-meter breaststroke time getting to Jesus. And the others were like dude, there's a boat, we'll just get there dry.
Speaker 3:But the point is this joy to see Jesus, the same joy that Carter expressed, the same joy that Christians have or should have, that Christians should cultivate this want, this need, this desire to be in the presence of Jesus and someday in the actual presence. You know, the physical presence of Jesus in heaven, but even in the presence of Jesus here on earth, if we can stay in Jesus' presence, presence of Jesus here on earth, if we can stay in Jesus' presence, if we can remind ourselves that he's always present, it helps us to avoid those sin times. It helps us to avoid, you know, now, it can also be embarrassing to go. I just did that and Jesus is watching.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but that's a good thing. That's how we keep checking ourselves and it's a journey. It's like weightlifting you don't start out benching 315. You start out with the bar and you get better at it as time goes on.
Speaker 2:Some of us stay at the bar.
Speaker 3:You know we're trying yeah but I'm not talking about where you get drinks. I'm talking about where you get drinks, yeah, yeah, but I'm not talking about where you get drinks.
Speaker 1:I'm talking well, we're getting a little long here, but there's one thing that I wanted to. I don't know if I'm gonna be able to phrase it as a question, but I guess it kind of is. But it kind of goes back to what you were saying before, that last little bit about not not turning from god, but like it's just god not leaving us. And I've said some pretty angry prayers lately and then I'm like dude, quit, but then I'll sit there. I'm like, well, at least I'm talking to god and it's just like I don't know.
Speaker 1:I I think I'm just having a tough time trusting god, not Not internally, but with actions. It's like I trust God with my heart, but maybe to someone else it doesn't appear that way. I guess it's like if I'm trying to be patient about whatever it is in my life, but I'm doing the opposite of being patient. Am I actually trusting God? Am I trying to do my own thing, or is God going to? Let me just kind of keep looking like a fool until I decide all right, I'm back. But then I go back and forth, decide, all right, I'm back. But then, like I go back and forth, it's like, okay, where's doesn't, isn't there some action that should follow trusting god? And like that's where I.
Speaker 3:Just it's like I'm pretty scrambled about that right now yeah, I mean, that's always, I think, always a question um, we love god, we trust him, or we wouldn't pray to him? Yeah, you know, we know we need him, but we have what we want and we can often go. But what I want God is in a line. It's aligned with your word, it's I want what you want for me. Why ain't I getting it? Well, god's timing is not our timing and it's an answer that most people don't want to hear. I didn't want to hear it when I was in my 20s, and there's still times I don't want to hear it.
Speaker 3:I tell the story. This will show how big a dork I was am still, but I never dated a girl until I was 19 years old. But I prayed every night since I was probably in junior high, for a girlfriend. Didn't happen now, mainly because I was complete dork and not gonna happen. But I, in my world, I was like, like what you're talking about, I'm a good kid, I'm trying to do what's right. Why aren't you giving me this girlfriend? Well, god's not that genie in the bottle.
Speaker 3:It's not rub the bottle and I'll grant you a wish. We have a relationship with God, and then we have a relationship with others, with humans around us, and those relationships we try to make sure they fit. And then we have a relationship with others, with humans around us, and those relationships we try to make sure they fit.
Speaker 3:So in my scenario it's like okay, I wanted a girlfriend and I'm like I don't care, god, if you'll provide one, then I know she'll be right. But then when I found one, the first one wasn't right. Second one wasn't right, third one wasn't right. Second one wasn't right, third one wasn't right. But the fourth, fifth, whatever she is, I don't know anymore, but she was right and it was God's time.
Speaker 3:So I'm 24 years old before I meet my now wife, and I've done it in other situations where we have, we want what we want when we want it. That's a and so learning to be content with what we have. But then, like you said, but not just sitting back and going all right, god, I'm gonna sit here on my couch and again talk about if I want a girlfriend. He's probably not going to manifest her on the couch next to me. I've got to go out and meet people and then trust what my eyes and ears tell me.
Speaker 3:If I'm asking God for a girlfriend and then I meet this girl who's a Satanist, probably not the one God sent me, yeah, and so we still have these human relationships. But I would have been better served to say hey, god, just you and I have our relationship. Guide me, help me to not fall and to stumble. Help me to be a good person. Help me, you know. Help me to not fall into you know to stumble. Help me to be a good person. Help me, you know. Help restore my faith. Help you know me to keep trusting, and then I'll go meet people and if I'm thinking about godly things, I will eventually be attracted to the right person and the right person will be attracted to me.
Speaker 3:But I didn't go about it. I was that genie in a bottle. Give me a girlfriend. Give me a girlfriend. I'm in junior high. It's like give me. Everybody else's got a girlfriend. Why don't I have a girlfriend? Uh, and patience when you're 12 is not, it's not not the easiest 25.
Speaker 3:It's not easy, yeah yeah, well, and at 55, sometimes patient. But but that goes back to the training. Yeah, I'm much better at it at 55 than I was at 25. I'm much better at understanding that everything I desire isn't needed, it's just wanted. I mean, we had this discussion at Bible study a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 3:What's the one thing we need, jesus? People would say, well, you need food, you need water. Well, you only need them if you have a desired outcome. If you want to live for more than three days or 30 days or whatever the case is, you need those. But really your only need is Jesus, because if you died 10 minutes from now and you have Jesus, you have all you need. If you die 10 minutes from now and you don't have a bottle of water, you didn't need it. It doesn't work that way. And so, understanding that we have what we want and we read the Word and we go well, this tells me that I should go forth. I'm going back to my girlfriend thing. I should be finding a girl, I should be finding a mate and I'm supposed to go forth and prosper. I think did Spock say that how am I going to do that without a girlfriend or without a wife?
Speaker 2:Well, it was in Jesus' time, or it was in.
Speaker 1:God's time sorry.
Speaker 3:But that's the hardest time it's like holy cow, how do I do this? And I'm so glad that I grew up in the 70s, so if I'd have been in it now and I'm going to pick on Carter a little bit, I'm not picking on him, I'm just pointing something out. Carter's been struggling to get a girlfriend. Anybody listening to this podcast struggling to get and keep a girlfriend. But in today's world this is my opinion with social media, everybody's looking for perfection. When I grew up in the's world this is my opinion with social media, everybody's looking for perfection. When I grew up in the 70s, you knew girls within the neighboring counties. That was about it, and that's only if you went to the small high schools around. That was it. And so you didn't get perfection. You found somebody that you could get along with and it went on. And nowadays I see and listen to people talk.
Speaker 3:I've got a coworker that you know same kind of thing and they're ghosting each other and it's like, oh wait, she's only 5'6" and I wanted 5'7" and he said that he makes six figures but it's only 101,000. Everybody wants this perfection on earth and I think it's harder to date somebody than it was before. So I'm glad I was just praying to God, I wasn't praying to TikTok or whatever the dating app is. But yeah, patience is a tough thing and so, if we tie that to the Easter story, think about the patience again. What was happening today, 2025 years ago. The patience to go what, yeah, what just happened, and not be frustrated, not be mad, and the angry prayers I tell people all the time I don't think you should scream at God, yell at God on a regular basis.
Speaker 3:First off, you can't threaten God. What are you going to threaten him with? But God understands when you're angry, upset, irritated, whatever the emotion is, and God has big shoulders, he can take it. So don't beat yourself up. When you're like why, why? Why? It's like? He gets the emotion that you're going through and he understands the question and where it's coming from more than people do. People will hear that and go what the heck's wrong with him today.
Speaker 2:They don't know everything that's going on in a person's life, in your life or your life or my life or whatever the case is, but God does so, I think it's okay, once in a while, to I wouldn't cuss at God necessarily but to question the why's?
Speaker 3:pretty natural thing, that's why why? Can't I have what I see, that or I perceive somebody else has pretty common yeah yeah, well, I appreciate having you on and sharing that knowledge um knowledge. From one dork to another.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, thank you guys for listening. If you want to email us, it's lifebesidechristpod at gmailcom or find us on Instagram at lifebesidechristpodcast. I think our next episode is hopefully with Davidid again and also hopefully with, uh, adam fox. So that's something to look forward to and, if carter's around, obviously hopefully he can make it. But yeah, thank you guys for listening. See you next time. Thanks everybody, happy Easter.
