By: Pastor David Grousnick

When I was a teenager, a long time ago, when telephones were connected with a wire to the wall and you made a call using a rotary dial, it was popular to listen to the radio for free giveaways.

“The tenth caller will receive…” some free something, maybe a free ice cream cone or a free ticket to some event. I remember dialing like crazy, hearing the busy tone, hanging up as fast as I could, only to dial again and again, in a quest for the elusive prize.

And one time, I got so caught up in the pursuit of it all, that when the phone actually rang, which meant it was going to be answered and I would win something, I automatically hung up and started dialing again. Arrgghh!!

Maybe you remember the Legend of the Touchstone? It’s a great story to recall during Easter Week. According to that ancient legend, if you could find the touchstone on the coast of the Black Sea and hold it in your hand, everything you touched would turn to gold.

You could recognize the touchstone by its warmth. The other stones would feel cold, but when you picked up the touchstone, it would turn warm in your hand.

Once a man sold everything he had and went to the coast of the Black Sea in search of the touchstone. He began immediately to walk along the shoreline picking up one stone after another in his diligent and intentional search for the touchstone. He was consumed with this dream. He wanted desperately to find this miraculous stone.

However, after several days had passed, he suddenly realized that he was picking up the same stones again and again. So, he devised a plan… pick up a stone; if it’s cold, throw it into the sea. This he did for weeks and weeks.

Then one morning he went out to continue his search for the touchstone. He picked up a stone; it was cold… he threw it into the sea.

He picked up another stone – cold! He threw it into the sea.

He picked up another stone… it turned warm in his hand, and before he realized what he was doing… he threw it into the sea! Arrrgghh!

That’s a good parable for Easter, isn’t it? Because that can so easily happen to us. We can come upon a miraculous moment like Easter… we can feel it turn warm in our hands… but then (so dulled by the routine) before we realize what we are doing… we throw it away.

Absentmindedly, mechanically, nonchalantly… we toss it aside and miss the miracle of Easter.

I once read about a pastor named Wayne Major. When Wayne was in high school, a long time ago, he and a friend would pull a great prank. One of them owned a car in which you could pull back the upper part of the back seat and slide into the trunk. That gave them the idea for this prank.

One of them would hide in the trunk while the other would drive the car and pick up one of their other friends. The two guys in the front would get involved in a deep conversation. Meanwhile the one hiding in the trunk would remove the upper part of the backseat and sneak out and take a place in the backseat as if he had been there all the time.

Then he would suddenly join in the conversation. “Surprise!”

Wayne had all kinds of stories of the various startled reactions that they got with this stunt.

I like surprises, don’t you? If I had to choose one word to characterize the reaction of Jesus’ followers that first Easter Sunday, it would be, “Surprise!” But maybe we shouldn’t be surprised at that. After all, it is the most astounding event in human history.

A Baptist church in Bangladesh was showing a film about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus to an audience filled with people who had never heard the gospel before. Little children sat in front and in the aisles. The adults stood in the back.

As the story of Jesus’ crucifixion unfolded and Jesus’ broken body was laid in the tomb, there were tears and audible gasps. As the affected audience watched, one young boy suddenly spoke up. “Don’t be afraid,” the little boy said. “He gets up again! I saw it before.”

Can you imagine being exposed to the Gospel for the first time and watching the crucifixion scene being reenacted? And then through the power of the motion picture to witness his resurrection? Surprise! He who was dead is now alive!

Pastor Phil Callaway tells of driving his five-year-old son past a local cemetery. Of course, five-year-olds sometimes have an interesting perspective on things. Noticing a large pile of dirt beside a newly excavated grave, the boy pointed and said: “Look, Dad, one got out!”

Calloway laughed at the time. But, he writes, “. . . every time I pass a graveyard, I’m reminded of the One who got out.” Surprise!

Experience the “Surprise” of Easter this week! Amen!!

David Grousnick, is the Pastor at the First Christian Church in Artesia.