A Different Perspective Official Podcast - Going Away - You Know Where // Easter Without Chocolate, Part 1

That week leading up to the very first Easter was a torrid time for Jesus.  Imagine the stress and the pressure.  So it’s interesting to see how He spent those few days.

Easter means different things to different people. Chocolate, of course there's chocolate, eggs, bunny's, a long weekend, a chance for a bit of a breather and that’s great.

We have a funny way though of reinventing holidays, there's something so amazing about Easter, Gods Easter and since we're right now in the week leading up to Easter I thought why don't we have a look at that week leading up to that very first Easter, what was going on? What was it like? What was Jesus doing? How were his disciples feeling?

So whatever Easter means to you, wherever you might be in your spiritual walk, why don't you join me each day this week as we take a look at Easter from a different perspective.

I love a good movie, I really like movies with some mystery or intrigue, it really gets my interest and mind going, where there are complex things, I love it. Now Easter, when we get to Easter the last thing we really think of is what was actually going on, what was the plot, what was the mystery, what was unfolding at Easter time? Well, what was actually going on?

Here is this Jesus, He's in his thirties, he's grown up, He was a carpenter in Nazareth and about three and a half years before what we now celebrate as Easter, He began his public ministry. He came down, He was baptised in the Jordan River by John and then He went around on what can best be described as a preaching and healing tour for three and a half years. He went right up to the north, up to Galilee and He went down to the south to Judah where the city of Jerusalem is and by any standard He was astounding, He had rock star status.

If you've ever been to Brazil and you see how they treat their football team, if you've ever been to India and see how they treat their cricketers, if you've ever been to South Africa and see how they flock around Nelson Mandela or the Queen in England, you know what I'm talking about.

Jesus was huge in his day, He drew massive crowds, nothing like this had been seen before, thousands upon thousands of people and remember back in the first century cities weren't populations of multiples of millions, Jerusalem was somewhere between 15 and 20 thousand people so when 4 thousand people or 5 thousand people go to one of his outdoor preaching things, that was huge, that was like the quarter of the population went.

Easter week was Passover festival; the crowds came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. Centuries before when Israel had been captives in Egypt as slaves and God heard their cries, he sent Moses to Pharaoh to say, "Let my people go!" And Pharaoh of course wouldn't so God sent these plagues upon Egypt and the last plague, as we saw last week, is when God killed the first born of every family and in fact their animals in Egypt.

But God s