FROM PASTOR MIKE’S DESK:
Dear brothers & sisters in Christ!
So I’m sure you have all heard the saying when it comes to the month of March … “In like a lion, out like a lamb.” We use this phrase, but what in the world does it really mean? When trying to find out the origin of this odd saying and what it means, I was quite amused simply because with all the “geniuses” who post stuff on the Internet … no one knows. No one really knows where it came from and no one knows the exact meaning of the phrase.
The best explanation that people could come up with is that the weather of March is very volatile, it is very hard to predict. The beginning of the month of March can be really bad in the sense that it is cold and possibly still snowing. Some of the bigger snow storms can sometimes come in the beginning of March. So, the beginning of March can be very powerful. On the flip side, the end of March is more spring like. The grass is starting to grow, flowers are starting to pop up out of the ground, and the sun is shining more. The end of the month is very vibrant and full of new life, much like a lamb.
I got thinking about this because when I was looking ahead to the end of this month, I noticed that we will be in the midst of Holy Week or Passion Week. We will be in the midst of the week where on Sunday Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey as he is showered with “Hosannas” from the crowd who are waving palm branches. Later on Thursday of that same week Jesus will give the disciples what we partake in called the Lord’s Supper. From there Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane, is arrested, illegally tried, convicted, beaten, mocked, and then crucified and buried on Good Friday.
Even though the end of the month for Jesus may seem like it is volatile time, a lion type of time … it was really a lamb type of time. Revelation 5:5-6 says this about Jesus, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain.” During Holy Week, we will see Jesus as the Lamb of God as he is sacrificed on the altar of the cross for all of our sins. But while Jesus is the Lamb who is slain, he is also the Lion, the Victor who has triumphed. Jesus through his resurrection, his victorious resurrection has triumphed over sin, death, and Satan himself.
What does this mean for you and me? Well … you and I at times, more often then we care to admit, find ourselves in the midst of experiencing those lion like moments where things are unpredictable and our lives are chaotic. In the midst of those times it may seem like we are knee deep in snow … I mean knee deep in the muck of problems. When it seems like there is no way out, we should listen to these words of John in Revelation written to a church in the midst of hard times. “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, has triumphed.” You see, Jesus through his vicious crucifixion and victorious resurrection has triumphed over all our problems and it is through this victory that our unpredictable lion times will turn into a lamb time.
But just like we have to wait for the end of the month to come to see the flowers and experience the warmer spring weather … we also wait for the unexpected return of Jesus when all of these problems we have are totally gone and we enjoy the gloriousness of the new heavens and new earth with the Lamb of God himself.
It is my prayer that as each of us go through this season of Lent, through this time of unpredictability in our lives, that we keep the strength and comfort of the Lion and the Lamb of Jesus at the center of our lives … for He truly has all things in the palm of His hands.
Sincerely in Christ,
Pastor Mike