I remember my mother once saying—quoting her father—that Easter Sunday is a lot like heaven. Perhaps it is the closest thing to it that we will ever experience here upon the earth.

I cannot prove that statement Biblically, but I have attempted to meditate upon it through the years, and I think there is much truth in it.

Growing up, I was part of a church tradition that gave great prominence to Easter Sunday—which some strongly prefer to call Resurrection Sunday—and all of the events leading up to it. By the time we got to Holy Week—which I now prefer to call Passion Week—to my young mind, it was as if we were really reliving the events of those most awesome days. It was as if Christ truly had to go the way of the cross on Friday before we found out once again that He “is risen indeed” (Luke 24:34) on Sunday.

These customs made an indelible impact upon me. Good Friday ended with the closing of the Bible and the darkening of the church, and silence. Easter Sunday began with a service at the actual time of sunrise, and that made a point. The day—well, except for the years we had April snowstorms—was truly like a blast of bright, blinding sunlight that overwhelmed the darkness we had left behind on Friday.

Some might object to the extent of the emphasis that was placed on Jesus’ passion in this way. And let me be clear, I understand their concerns, especially with regard to the subject of Lent, and am not making a plea for us to return to celebrating it in our churches.

However, the Easter holiday itself has also come to us down through history in the development of the Christian church calendar. Since most of us and our churches are going to celebrate Easter, I would suggest that we should consider implementing some of the best lessons that I learned as a child from the stress we placed on the entire season that led up to it.

The resurrection, of course, did not occur in a vacuum but was the culmination of all the details that make up what we generally refer to as Jesus’ passion—details that take up an incredibly large percentage of the text of the four gospels.

I believe that the message of Jesus’ passion and resurrection deserves more than one Sunday a year. We do not do it justice when we come together on Easter morning, without any emotional preparation, to sing a few Easter hymns and gospel songs, hear a sermon on the resurrection, and then allow the subject to drift from our minds. Unless we understand why Christ died, we will never comprehend the meaning of the resurrection in the first place.

By comparison, many churches begin their preparations for the Christmas season (which is, again, just as much a part of that same church calendar) long before the first hint of fall.

But which of the two—the birth of Christ, or His death, burial and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:3-4)—receives the greatest emphasis in Scripture? Where should we be placing the most attention?

It may be too late to make extensive preparations for Easter this year. Still, we can take this Resurrection Sunday and allow it to direct our minds toward heaven in a powerful way (Col. 3:1-4). As we get older, we know more and more people who have gone there, and we ache to see them again in the resurrection. And perhaps Easter provides the closest thing we have to a palpable connection with them. We share together in the hope of that resurrection because of what Jesus has done. His death paid the cost of our sin; His resurrection opened the way to life eternal (John 14:19; 1 Thess. 4:14).

Compared to the years of my childhood, there are now a great many things that would distract our minds away from the eternal truths of Easter. Sports are much bigger and have moved much closer to the center of our lives. Tax Day is much bigger and has become the subject of endless advertisements calling the procrastinators to switch tax preparers. Of course, entertainment, media and technology have grown exponentially—along with a corresponding decline in things like going to church together, or gathering with family for Easter Sunday dinner.

Yes, there are many issues that might take our minds off things eternal this week—and there may be no going back for our culture.

But this season, and this Sunday, should not be about any of those things for us as believers. Our focus should be consumed by the eternal hope that we have in Jesus Christ. Everything else, significant as it is in the here and now, is ultimately mere background noise.

What do you love about Easter? I invite you to take some time this week and determine the answer to that question.

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Paul J. Scharf (M.A., M.Div., Faith Baptist Theological Seminary) is a church ministries representative for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, based in Columbus, WI, and serving in the Midwest. For more information on his ministry, visit sermonaudio.com/pscharf or foi.org/scharf, or email pscharf@foi.org.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version.

“…As Jesus was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?’ So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’” And he answered and said to Him, ‘Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.’ Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:17-22).

This is a story most Christians are familiar with but don’t readily identify with because most of God’s children don’t have great possessions. But while we may not have great possessions as he did, if we look real close, we’ll see that we all, rich and poor alike, share the most prized possession of all: our eternal souls.

First and foremost, this story is not about the man’s earthly possessions. Earthly possessions are not evil; it’s not sinful to have possessions, many or few. But when they become our treasure, that’s when they become our downfall. Jesus warns us:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

This story is about the man’s soul, the eternal destiny of his soul. And that’s what was on his mind when he approached Jesus: “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” He asked Jesus an honest question, and Jesus gave him a true and honest answer: “One thing you lack: Go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow Me.”

At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth. His great possessions had such complete control of his heart that when he came to his Maker, he chose to reject the words that he had asked for; he refused the words that would save him and walked away from Jesus. Paul said this:

“Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:9-10).

So much for those proud shepherds who like to parade their wealth before their flock.

The man was so blinded by his love for his earthly possessions that he couldn’t see that his most prized possession was his eternal soul; and more importantly, He couldn’t see that Jesus loved his soul.

We have to live in this present world and are to do the works of God until Jesus returns for us. Now, we grow up in a family, we find work, we get married, we make a home for ourselves. Our family, whom we love very much, is not our most prized possession—our eternal soul is. And if Jesus is our first love, we will not only look out for the welfare of our own soul but for the souls of those near and dear to us.

I was a pastor for many years, but I was also a factory worker for 44 years. I got weary of punching the timeclock every day, but I liked my work and was good at what I did. Ten years into working with a group of unsaved men, I was born again. From that point on, my primary concern and prayer was not my work but the welfare of those men’s souls. Thank God over the years, several gave their hearts to Jesus.

We love our family, our home, and hopefully like our work. And over the course of the years, the Lord blesses us with a decent income. We may have hobbies or activities that we like; we may take vacations and have regular family get-togethers; we may really be into the sports scene. But whatever path our lives may take, however much we may love our family, how much we may value our home, may we never prize anything above our immortal souls, and may we never love anyone more than Jesus.

Jesus lived on this earth 33 years without owning a single thing. And at the end of His life, He willingly gave up the earthly possession we all prize most highly—His body! And Jesus did it because of the value of your soul and His love for it; Jesus purchased your soul from death with His own blood because He loves you!

I know how the rich young man’s life ended: he died just like everyone else does. I’m also sure of this: that as he saw his days coming to a close, he would have given up all his possessions to live just a while longer. And so Jesus’ word is: “What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul” (Mark 8:36).

As children of God, our most prized possession is Jesus Christ. He has purchased us with His own blood—body and soul. Our eternal souls are hidden with Him at the right hand of God. When Jesus comes, not only will our eternal lives be revealed, but God has prepared a new, glorious, incorruptible, immortal body that will house our eternal soul—Praise God!

“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).

Brother Bill Oldham

bboldham@sbcglobal.net