The Meaning of the Lord’s Day (Easter)

The disciples ask Jesus how they ought to pray, and he answers them with the Lord’s Prayer. His instruction to ask for the forgiveness of sins is more than a call to repent of moral wrongs; it is a call to restore a relationship with God that has been broken.

Adam’s sin in eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil lay not in the fruit itself but in setting himself up as the judge of good and evil, and so overturning the order God had made. Jesus healed this rift by shedding his blood on the cross. When he died, the curtain of the sanctuary was torn, and a way was opened for anyone to come directly to God. As Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus visits his disciples on the day of his resurrection, that is, every Lord’s Day, and says to them, “Peace be with you.”

The Lord’s Day is not time to be filled out of habit. It is time in which each person’s relationship with God is restored, one to one. When the whole heart is given to praise and to the Word, the wounded spirit is healed and strength is found for the six days ahead. God’s people must therefore be those who enjoy peace and freedom with the risen Lord.