New beginnings led by faith

In the night before the crucifixion, Jesus prayed to know what his Father, divine Love, would have him do.  He had preached to the people, healed the sick, raised the dead, and now was faced with betrayal and what seemed like certain death.  Knowing the good he had done and could still do, he was torn by his wish to still serve God in the healing work but willing accepted death if that was to be his fate.  He would not shrink from his faith in God's provision for him.  Understand this, God, divine Love, did not mandate nor create the evil, envy, and hate that inspired those who would kill the Christ.  Divine Love knows no evil, no sin, disease, or death.  God is Life and knows only perfect, loving life for all his creation.
So, where did the plot to crucify Jesus come from?  It came from the hatred that mortality has for spirituality.  Mortality does not, cannot, perceive or understand spirit, and just as we see in the behavior of dumb animals, mortality lashes out to kill whatever it doesn't understand.  Not that mortality is a real evil.  No, mortality is just illusion, ignorance, blindness, swinging blindly in the darkness at whatever it can't understand or appreciate.  So mortality felt that whatever it was that Jesus demonstrated and taught was a threat to its self-absorbed dreaming, and it tried to slay this messenger of Truth.  No, God didn't ordain that Jesus should suffer and die.  God only ordained that Jesus' faith and understanding of Truth would sustain him in whatever he had to face.  Love never left Jesus.  He was attuned to the Christ, Truth, in every step toward Calvary he took.  In the Garden of Gesthemene, he didn't know how his life would be preserved with so many mortal minds trying to take it away, but his faith allowed him to go forward anyway.  Mortal mind tried to convince him that his God had forsaken him; tried to impress him with its power over his life. He faced that temptation as he had faced all others - with an understanding of the nature of spiritual reality and a faith borne of experience, that divine Love would always meet his needs and make things come out right.  Jesus knew that no matter how dark the human picture seemed, there are no mistakes in divine Mind's kingdom of heaven - his eternal home.  He knew that he could not die and that whatever happened, he would continue to express the laws of Truth, Life, and Love that his heavenly Father shared through him.
So, he suffered from seeing how lost in darkness his brothers and sisters were.  He suffered from seeing how tightly bound to blind ignorance those who were crucifying him were.  But divine Love sustained him through all his suffering and led him as he lay in the tomb to realize that his life was still intact.  Mind showed him that life was not at the mercy of hate or death.  This lesson learned, he arose to share this incredible good news, this gospel, with his followers and ultimately with all mankind.
How does this resurrection story apply to your daily life, you ask?  Which of us doesn't feel lost and be uncertain of our way?  Which of us can claim never to be afraid?  The lesson for us on Easter is that if we know the Truth, the Truth will make us free.  No matter what mountain we must climb, if we prepare our hearts by consciously communing with divine Love as we move forward, we can advance calmly and confidently, knowing that Love leads us and guards, guides, and governs every step of the way.  Practicing this sort of faith is the goal we should strive to reach.  A teacher once explained it to me this way: "Faith is like sitting down, even when you KNOW there's not a chair there."  Yes, maybe subconscious doubts will have you hit the floor once in awhile at first as you begin to learn this lesson, but with practice and increasing faith, the chair will appear often enough to ingrain in your thinking that there is a higher power you can absolutely rely on, a power that will NEVER let you fall.
So, on this Easter Day, by all means remember Jesus and be grateful for his great love shown by his suffering and sacrifice.  But also remember the lesson he was teaching - the triumph over death that extends throughout time to universal humanity.  Face this coming day with the same kind of faith Jesus had in Love's power to save.   Whether your cross is facing down a bully or dealing with financial disaster or turning away from drugs and crime, know that just as Jesus stood in faith and arose, so can you.  What cannot God, divine Love, do?  Blessings to one and all.