We will finish up our series on Leviticus on Easter Sunday.

That’s a sentence I would have never in a gazillion years thought I’d ever write. In fact, if I had seen it from another church, I’d spend at least a good half hour making fun of it. “Invite your friends to church as we teach on Leviticus…”

“Bold strategy, Cotton….”

But hold on a second. Maybe there’s something else here. Alongside some of the crazy laws and instructions of Leviticus, there is also a richness and depth that it provides to understanding the Cross of Jesus. The world knows the Cross is important, and Easter is central for Christianity. It just doesn’t always understand why.

Furthermore, I think there is a longing inside people to understand and at least honor the ancient and the mysterious. There is a desire to make sense of the present and for so many people that starts by looking at the past. Even those things that don’t quite make sense, there is a longing to preserve them in hopes that maybe one day they will make sense.

I think that explains some of the reaction over the last 48 hours to the burning of the cathedral at Notre Dame. There are businesses and billionaires who have no connection to the Catholic Church donating close to $700 million to the rebuilding of Notre Dame. Yes, it’s an iconic structure to Paris, France, and the Catholic Church, but it also represents something deeper and mystic for the rest of the world.

A world will struggle to find meaning in this tragedy in Paris, much like historically people have struggled to find meaning in any kind of suffering. Easter gives us that meaning. I’d go so far to say it’s impossible to find any redemptive meaning in suffering without the Cross and resurrection of Jesus.

A Catholic cardinal in New York was asked to quantify the tragedy of Notre Dame on a major news outlet yesterday. He paused for a moment and said, “This is Holy Week. Our faith is all about the resurrection of Jesus getting the last word, not death. While it is a tragedy that the great cathedral is burned, our faith doesn’t focus on tragedy. We focus on Jesus, the Resurrected One.”

That’s what we do on Easter. Focus on Jesus, the Resurrected One allowing him to give meaning and redemption to our struggles. Offering again and again the greatest exchange in the world. He gives us His life in exchange for ours.

See ya’ Sunday.