An OPEN Moment

An OPEN Moment
Saturday, April 19, 2025 by Cindy Sproles

Image by Arnie Bragg from Pixabay I’ve said before that Easter is a hard holiday for our household. When you have a child, even an adult child like us, who has mental retardation, there are just some things that they simply cannot take in.

For us, it’s passion week. It’s that time our adult son sees the triumphant entry into the city with people praising Jesus and worshiping to, in an instant, those same people turning their backs, growing hateful and murderous, and then killing the very one they worshiped days earlier. That’s hard for even me to get my head around. However, for our son, it’s frightening. Yet here we are, facing that remembrance again, and it’s just as heartbreaking as the years before.

We tried children’s books about the Easter story of Jesus and how He rose on the third day. We’ve watched movies from the children’s side to the adult side, and still, the death of Christ terrifies my 45-year-old, mentally disabled son.

We have a friend who runs a ministry, and part of that ministry is to produce plays and excellent productions that touch the heart and speak to the love of Jesus. During a Christmas play, one of the ending scenes was a remembrance of Jesus carrying the cross. It was a moving moment, but when we looked at our son, he had his head lying on his knees and his coat over his head. His entire body shook. As much as he loves our friend who runs the productions, Chase said he’d never return. The suffering of Jesus taints his memory of the theatre.

We’ve done our best to reassure Chase that on the third day, the tomb opens. It’s open! Jesus is free from death because He, being God in human form, cannot be put away. Still, Chase quivers at the thought of Easter.

We always attend Easter services, but never say anything to Chase when he gets up and walks into the hallway. It doesn’t matter if it’s a play, a concert, or a sermon. When the death of Jesus comes into play, he can’t fathom it.

Our ladies at church recently went through Max Lucado’s Ten Women of the Bible study. One of the women Mr. Lucado addressed was Mary Magdalene. He said something that turned a light on for me. Do you know how you read certain things numerous times but miss the tiny detail that changes the entire perspective? Mr. Lucado and I missed that same detail. The stone wasn’t rolled away from the tomb so Jesus could leave. It was rolled away so Mary could go inside. Jesus didn’t need help moving a stone. After all, He’d just overcome death. Who needs help moving a rock when you’ve just done the impossible?

The fact was, the tomb was open. It was open for Mary to look inside and realize Jesus was gone. Image by Meranda D from Pixabay

It took a minute—maybe several minutes for the spiritual side of Mary’s brain to kick in. Seeing an empty tomb must have sent her reeling, panicked. I’m sure the multiple times Jesus said He would return didn’t cross her mind. All she could see was an open tomb and a missing body. The moment she looked into that open tomb was the second her brain closed down. It took that sweet encounter with a man she thought was a gardener to jolt her to her spiritual awakening—Jesus stood before her, smiling. Tender and loving. And Mary’s mind opened again.

Are you seeing the OPEN moment yet?

How often have we gone into spiritual shutdown, closing out everything we know Jesus promised? I’ve lost count, but the truth is, Jesus walked out of an open tomb unhindered by death, primed and ready to show the unbelieving He meant business.

The good thing about Easter in our home is that our son knows Jesus lives. It’s not that he doesn’t understand the sacrifice of Jesus. He does. It’s the cruelty. The brutality. What terrifies him is the complete rejection of Jesus. It’s humanity that upsets him, and its lack of regard that sends him into despair. It’s the inhuman ways of humans doing the unthinkable.

When Chase was thirty-three (I find a bit of irony in that age), he spent thirty life-changing minutes with our minister. He’d asked how you become a Christian, and even though I know that the mercy of God extends farther than we can imagine for those with limited understanding, Chase grew in his spiritual life to the point that he was curious. My job throughout his life has been to keep him involved and OPEN for Christ to do what Christ does best. Enter in.

So, at thirty-three, my son chose to be baptized, to be open to Christ entering his heart. It doesn’t change that Easter and Passion Week still terrify him, but it does put a new spin on things. Through the terror, our son sees life.

I often wonder if God chose age thirty-three for Chase to fully understand, so he might be a little tighter linked to Jesus. They both have immense compassion. Let’s let them be really snug in one another. I guess I’ll never know anything more than Jesus tied up His ministry at thirty-three, and Chase walked into His arms at the same time.

There’s something to being open. An open heart. Open mind, Open arms—open tomb. They all prepare the way for Christ to enter.

I hope that this Easter you will be OPEN to the life-changing way of Christ. If you’re a seasoned Christian, then definitely OPEN up. It’s easy to, over time, shut down. Remember the sacrifice and the open tomb, and that it wasn’t open for Jesus to walk out but for us to walk in and take a glance. Proof of a risen Savior.

Come on. Open up. Have that open moment.

Photo 1 Image by Arnie Bragg from Pixabay/ Photo 2 Image by Meranda D from Pixabay

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