The Windows of Easter Wrap Up

"Because you have seen Me, have you believed?  Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." -John 20:29


So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.  -Romans 10:17


"..that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."  -Philippians 3:10


The Windows of Easter, by Bill Crowder, has been an excellent study to do in order to learn more about the people who experienced Jesus's death and resurrection along side of him.  Before we end this study, we have three more windows to review.

The Window of Sorrow: Joseph of Arimathea
Joseph of Arimathea believed Jesus, yet at first he did not stand up for Jesus in fear of being prosecuted himself.  He kept silent.  Fear overtook him and wouldn't let him stand up for what he knew was right.  However, in the end, Joseph surrendered his fear to God and gathered up the courage to do what was right.  Joseph asked to Jesus' body so that he may have a proper burial.  This is a huge step for Joseph seeing that most bodies were left on the cross for the wild to devour.  Joseph didn't want that happening to Jesus so he finally stepped forward in his faith.  The Window of Sorrow here shows us that we need to stand up for what is right and not let fear over take us.  We need to remember that God can handle all of our fears and help us through everything.

The Window of Strength:  The Women
With this window, Bill Crowder shows us that it was mostly the women who had the strength to show the most devotion and loyalty to walk with Christ through His final dark days.  They worshipped him and moved forward sharing His love and His Word.  The Window of Strength shows us that we need to remember to be like these women during our times.  There will be days that seem very dark to us.  However, we need to have the strength to worship Christ and tell/show everyone the difference He has made in our lives.

The Window of Scripture:  The Emmaus Road Travelers
For me, this is the most important window.  We must always remember the power of God's Word.  Bill Crowder writes in this chapter the following:
"It is in the wisdom of the Bible that we can find answers to our questions and clarity for our confusion-and it does this by giving us light for the next step of the way."
He ends the chapter with the following:
"I pray we will listen with hearts ready to hear and that, like those men on the Emmaus Road, our hearts will burn within us as the powerful Word of the living God transforms our lives into the image of Christ."

During this Holy time, I pray that all of us have in some way or form been touched and transformed by one of these windows.  There were a lot of people who had that first hand experience of what Jesus went through and how it effected them.  I pray that we will continue to push forward during our dark days, lean on Christ and see things through different windows that will motivate us to move forward.