Why are oil & vinegar significant to Easter?

As I was grocery shopping, I saw a beautiful jar filled with oil and vinegar and I thought, maybe I should buy this for the kids for Easter this year instead of a chocolate bunny. So, I picked up a couple of jars. I thought the jar was beautiful because it had two jars nested within one another making it look like they are one. I couldn’t wait to give them the gift. 

On Easter morning, while I was reading my Bible and praying a thought came to me. I had the visual in my mind of the jar I just bought, and I heard the question, “Why is vinegar and oil significant for Easter?” I had a few ideas that I already knew but decided to research it just the same. 

Once again, God caught me and showed me the beauty of who He is! 

When we toured in Israel, we were able to see how much the people cared for their olive trees. We even saw an olive tree that was believed to be well over 2,000 years old. We were told that the olive tree represents life, longevity, stability, prosperity, and joy. It has the capacity to go through a fire and being chopped off and still grow. It has the resilience to endure the seasons both the drought and the rain. 

The olives that are grown on an olive tree are used to press into oil. The olive oil is thought to symbolize divine presence. 

While in Israel we toured a mock village of Nazareth and one of the things we were able to see was an olive press. The olive is placed on a massive stone press that has a huge round boulder that is pushed with a large log. As the log is rolled in a circle around the press, the huge boulder would squish the olives to produce oil. We were told that the first press is believed to be the holiest of oils. This oil is used for anointing oil and to bring light to the temple. It is then pressed again a second time. 

The second press of oil is used for healing. It will become medicine. 

While the third press of the oil is used for cleansing. It will be made into soap. It is also used for common lights like what will be found in the home. So the pressed olive oil becomes anointed light, healing medicine, and cleansing soap. 

As I reflected on what Jesus did for us at Easter, I was reminded of Jesus going to the Mount of Olives to pray. His prayers set Him apart as holy anointed as at the Light of the world. 

As Jesus prayed, He felt the first crush of the weight of what He would bear in our behalf. Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but your will be done” as sweat filled with drops of blood fell from His brow (Luke 22:42). Imagine Jesus enduring His first press in becoming the anointing oil that brings life as the Light of the world. 

I then was reminded that Jesus was beaten, scourged, spit on, and crucified. This was His second press. In this press Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). He chose to press in and become our eternal healer. Our medicine from heaven. He was willing to provide forgiveness as healing for our souls when His own body needed relief from the humiliation He suffered. He chose us over Himself. 

The final and last press came when Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. It is finished” (Luke 23:46). In His last breath, Jesus became the one who cleanses us of all our sins. He was crushed for our iniquities. He became our cleanser. 

Light, Healer, and Cleanser! Jesus our anointed One! The symbolism of the oil washed over me. 

I then heard, “What is the significance of the vinegar?” Oh, I knew they put it on a sponge and offered it to Jesus. 

Even though the Romans would hang people on a cross, they would offer to the person on the cross a cheap vinegar wine that was laced with a drug to help the person endure the suffering. The person dying on a cross would become very thirsty because the wounds would leak, and dehydration would take over their body as they would sweat. So, the Romans would dip the vinegar wine in a hyssop and lift it up to the person so that they could endure their suffering. When Jesus cried out, He was thirsty they offered to Him on hyssop the vinegar wine, but Jesus refused to drink it (Matthew 27:34). 

Why would Jesus refuse? Did He refuse because He didn’t want to dull His senses? Did He refuse because He wanted us to know He bore the full weight of the crush from our sins? Did He refuse because the pain was so unbearable? We don’t know. But He refused. 

The second time Jesus was offered the vinegar it says that when Jesus received the drink on the hyssop, He gave up His spirit (John 19:29). 

The hyssop was very symbolic to the Jews. It was on the hyssop at Passover that they soaked in blood to paint around their door posts so that the Angel of Death would pass over their home (Exodus 12:22). Jesus died on the cross so that the Angel of Death will pass over our lives because Jesus paid the debt so that our sins and shame are forgiven. In that moment, His blood became the Passover lamb for you and me. 

With a clear mind and intentional heart, Jesus refused to take the vinegar as He was becoming our anointing oil that brings life, light, healing, and cleansing. Jesus willingly allowed Himself to go through the press of the cross to become our eternal life and light that give us stability, prosperity, and joy as well. 

Hmmm… I had no idea when I picked up the jar of oil, how much it would mean to me. It will now sit in our home as a symbol of the gift Jesus gave us at Easter some 2,000 years ago.

Why Good Friday is Good

(Pictures taken from https://www.4lpi.com/blog/we-find-him-cross/)

Click on the link to watch the Easter story:

Why Good Friday is called Good

Common Enemy Bonding

(Picture taken from https://charletonmills.wordpress.com/2017/01/10/jewish-religious-leaders-and-roman-political-leaders/amp/)

What is it about a common enemy that can make two groups who are normally hateful to each other and intolerant of even their presence come together in unity? I was curious so I Googled "Common Enemy Theory." I just wrote out what I thought a psychologist would call it. Did you know that it is a real thing and that research has been done examining the bond that occurs between people bonding over a mutual dislike. Maybe this is why people like to gather and gossip rather than sit and talk about the good in others? According to Psychology Today (Dec. 17, 2018) people will bond more over a common dislike than a common like. This type of group think makes us feel better about ourselves. It gives us a mental boost about our own poor motives in the moment. Oh boy. Think on that the next time you bond over a common enemy. Is that the type of unity I want to build a relationship upon? 

This type of behavior has been around for a long time. Some 2,000 years ago, the religious leaders who normally would not get along worked together to entrap Jesus. They allowed their mutual bond of viewing Jesus as a threat to their religious order to cause them to plot to kill an innocent man. They made their common enemy the One that was known as the Messiah. The one their very own prophets taught about. Blinded by their personal wants and desires, they behaved contrary to their calling and plotted against the One that came to save them. They settled for the glory of human power, authority, and institution rather than GOD'S glory, power, and authority. Their enemy bond caused them to miss out on the immeasurably more of Jesus.

Watch the video here:

Easter Week Tuesday: Religious Leaders Question Jesus

Easter is a time when we gather together to remember the sacrifice that was given so that we might have eternal life. As our world becomes more and more polarized, how can we find ways to build common bonds that are healthy and not destructive of each other? I know I struggle to fight enemy bonding. The one thing that seems to put reason back into my sensibilities is to remember that each person is created in the image of God. They may not act like it, but I can try to honor that they are an image bearer. I confess, I fail often in my lack of remembrance, but when I get it right I know I am better for it and so is the one I am remembering. And if I am in a conversation with another, they are better for it, too. What might you do this week to guard against enemy bonding? How can you seek to bond over healthier things? 

Why do we have to have Easter stories?

(Taken from learningreligions.com. What is Palm Sunday?)

My friend said to me, "I really like the Christmas story of God loving us and sending His Son, but why do we have to go through that awful story of Easter?" My heart clenched because I get it. The Easter story if you take time to know it, it is excruciatingly painful. An innocent man willingly gives His life to die on a cross. But, here is the deal. Jesus was still the Son of God sent by the Father as He allowed the days to unfold. He chose to do the Father's will that we might live. He gave us the greatest gift we will ever know. He gave His life as a sacrifice to pay our debt of sin. So, as painful as it is to listen to or watch the Easter story unfold. It is our hope.  It is where new life begins. This is why people use little Easter eggs and put things in them. They symbolize Jesus dying, being buried and then rising again. Last year to give hope I recorded the Easter week stories and posted them. Please take time to listen and receive the gift so freely given.

Listen to the first story of Easter week here.

Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday