On July 24, 1969 the Apollo 11 astronauts safely returned to earth from mankind’s first lunar landing. President Richard Nixon was on board the aircraft carrier Hornet to personally welcome the astronauts back proclaiming, “This is the most important event in all of human history.” The following day evangelist Billy Graham respectfully corrected President Nixon: “The greatest event in human history was God setting foot on earth in Jesus of Nazareth.” Mr. Graham subsequently qualified his statement by saying, “The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest and most important event in the history of the world.”
The poem One Solitary Life says it all in concluding, “Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure of the human race, the leader of mankind’s progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on earth as much as that One Solitary Life.”
As we approach the pinnacle of Holy Week – the most important time in the Christian calendar – and Passover, it is good to reflect on our shared Judeo-Christian values in celebrating the death and resurrection of the Savior and God’s freeing of the Jews from slavery in Egypt.
In church on Good Friday, let us somberly reflect on Jesus’ passion and death on the cross for our sins, being sure to pray for our morally adrift nation. As we celebrate the victory of the resurrection Sunday morning, let us be encouraged in the hope of God’s grace restoring and resurrecting our nation. And as we gather with friends and family for Easter and Passover dinner, let us look around the table and see the faces of the children who will inherit both the good and the bad of this exceptional nation we call America. Remember, it is their future and that of their children that we fight for every day.
Wishing you a blessed Easter and Passover,