Matthew 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not 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."

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." (NIV)

From our point of view on this side of the cross, there's nothing to worry about. The crucifixion is over, Good Friday ended, and we know what the words "It is finished!" mean. So we can spend the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday morning with full confidence that the grave will be defeated. 

It wasn't that way for those who lived it. What that Sabbath must have been like for them. We want to put our arms around them and say, "It's going to be all right. Just hold on through one more night."

Here is a song taken from the third chapter of Lamentations for this day as we wait in anticipation of the Resurrection. It was written with Cliff Duren, a wonderful writer and arranger, Cliff suggested we write a lament, a song of grief and mourning. It's also a song that says "God is faithful." 

God is faithful. No matter what you are facing, remember that His mercies are new every morning and His faithfulness is great. 

The 53rd chapter of Isaiah has always been one of my favorite passages. Many years ago when I was singing in a choir my dad directed, we sang a John W. Peterson musical that featured a song taken from this chapter. I remember it to this day because the words are such a beautiful picture of the suffering Savior who would take our sins. 

When Ronnie Freeman and I were writing an Easter musical together, we were excited to use this beautiful text in a similar song. 

It's Good Friday. There's no day in the calendar that is a more vivid reminder of how much Christ loved us. Come and see!

Isaiah 53:1-6

Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.


4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Although it's over 20 years old, this song is still one of my favorite songs I've been part of writing. I know the idea was Joel Lindsey's, and I can remember so many details of that writing session.

I've probably written close to 150 songs with Joel since then, but there are none more special to me than "He Loved Me With The Cross." I'm so thankful to have been part of writing it, and thankful to Larnelle for singing it so beautifully. 

Psalms 113-118 (called The Hallel) are used during the celebration of the Passover meal. When you read these psalms, it's impossible not to be moved to imagine Jesus singing those verses, celebrating that last Passover before His crucifixion.


"The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the LORD: 'O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul!'" (Psalm 116:3-4) 

"For You have delivered my soul from death, My eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." (Psalm 116:8-9) 

"I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD now in the presence of all His people. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints." (Psalm 116:13- 15)

To me, it is most amazing to think of Jesus and His disciples leaving the upper room singing Psalm 118:24. As David and I were writing the lyric to this evening's song, we could not get over that. Jesus, the hours dwindling before His arrest, trial, beating and crucifixion, before He would bear our sins on the cross, could sing,  "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."


We tried to write words that would reflect His agony, the desire not to have to "drink the cup" the Father had poured out for Him, and His faithful surrender to His Father's will. We also tried to make this a song of personal surrender for each one of us, especially when we are called to share in the "fellowship of His suffering."

Because I'm a lyricist, people sometimes ask if I'm ever surprised or even disappointed with the melody someone writes for one of my lyrics. My answer is that I'm almost always surprised and almost never disappointed. This song is a favorite of mine because I sent the lyric to Russell Mauldin—we needed a song for the Last Supper/Garden of Gethsemane slot in a musical—and when I heard the melody he had written, I don't know how I could've been happier. I love the way it turned out. Thanks, Russell!

The disciples were arguing about who would sit at Jesus's side when He came into His kingdom. I wonder how often they reflected back on that stupid argument after the cross? Anyway, Jesus gave them a vivid demonstration of what it means to be great, what it means to be a leader. Wouldn't we all be blessed if our leaders followed His example. Wouldn't things work out better for each one of us if we learned how to serve the way He did. 

I need to apologize to Charles Wesley. Travis and David and I wanted to use his great hymn "And Can It Be That I Should Gain" in our Easter musical Jesus, Only Jesus. We added a new chorus and a new verse, and we tweaked just a few words to make them more accessible to a 2014 audience. If I had read this first, however, I'm not sure I would have. In the preface to a 1779 collection of hymns, Wesley wrote:

"I beg leave to men­tion a thought which has been long up­on my mind, and which I should long ago have in­sert­ed in the pub­lic pa­pers, had I not been un­will­ing to stir up a nest of horn­ets. Ma­ny gen­tle­men have done my bro­ther and me (though with­out nam­ing us) the hon­our to re­print ma­ny of our hymns. Now they are per­fect­ly wel­come to do so, pro­vid­ed they print them just as they are. But I de­sire they would not at­tempt to mend them, for they are real­ly not able. None of them is able to mend ei­ther the sense or the verse. There­fore, I must beg of them these two fa­vours: ei­ther to let them stand just as they are, to take things for bet­ter or worse, or to add the true read­ing in the mar­gin, or at the bot­tom of the page, that we may no long­er be ac­count­a­ble ei­ther for the non­sense or for the dog­ger­el of other men."

I hope when I meet him in Heaven, he's not ticked off at me. Maybe I'll tell him it was David and Travis's idea. For the sake of clarity, here is Charles Wesley's original, beautiful lyric:

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain--
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

’Tis mystery all: th’Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace--
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray--
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Still the small inward voice I hear,
That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Still the atoning blood is near,
That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

I've always loved the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Mary and Martha sent for their friend, but Jesus delayed coming. Lazarus died, and his sisters didn't understand why the rabbi they loved, the one they knew could heal the sick, didn't show up to heal their brother. You can hear the accusation first in Martha's voice, then Mary's. "Lord, if you had only been here..."

Jesus had them take him to the tomb. Here's the story from John 11:

“Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.

But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”

Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”

I just love thinking about what happened next. What did Lazarus do when those wrappings fell away? I couldn't help myself. I had to write a song about it, and I asked Joseph Habedank and Tony Wood to help me do it. Karen Peck & New River recorded it last year, and it makes me so happy every time I hear it. 

A few years ago, I was asked to write an Easter musical with Ronnie Freeman. J. Daniel Smith was going to arrange it. Awesome. The only problem was that Ronnie was getting ready to leave Nashville for the summer, and so the writing work had to be mostly done in one week. We both cleared our calendars. 

We had a few songs we had already written together that we decided to include, and Ronnie had written a song with some other writers that would become the title. Basically, we had 5 or 6 songs to write. That seems do-able in a week. This is one of the first.

When you co-write much and later hear a song played back, you often hear the voice of your co-writer in your head, not what's actually on the recording. That is certainly true for me with this song. I hear Ronnie singing, see him sitting at the piano in a little writer's room at Brentwood-Benson. And I remember the conversation that led to the song:

What kind of king chooses to die for those He is sovereign over? It's the question we ask with utter disbelief before we are saved, and the one we ask with thanksgiving once we know Jesus. 

Romans 5:6-8 says: "When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."

"King of all kings. Christ is His name. Let every knee bow, every tongue proclaim. He is the King of Heaven!"

Matthew 21  1 As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2 “Go into the village over there,”he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.”

4 This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said,

5 “Tell the people of Jerusalem,
    ‘Look, your King is coming to you.
He is humble, riding on a donkey--
    riding on a donkey’s colt.’”

6 The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.

8 Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,

“Praise God for the Son of David!
    Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
    Praise God in highest heaven!”

10 The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.

11 And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”