Happy April Fool's Day! April 1^st has become a day for playing practical jokes on people. But have you ever wondered who started it all? The origin of April Fool’s Day is a bit of a mystery. Some historians trace it back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. 

Changing the calendar meant a new date to celebrate the New Year. Formerly the New Year was celebrated on April 1, but now under the new calendar, it is observed on January 1. The people who failed to get on the same page and celebrated the new year on April 1^st became the punchline of jokes and the recipient of pranks. They were the “April Fools.” 

A fool is out of step with the rest of the world—a person who marches to the beat of a different drum. And no one likes to be different. The wrong one. The fool. People said Jesus was a fool. Crowds were coming to him to hear his message about God's love. Sick and disabled people pressed on him to be healed.

On what is now called Palm Sunday, onlookers who saw Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a donkey and the crowds yell, “Save us,” thought that it was foolish to place Hope in Jesus’ ability to overthrow the Roman government and save people. But that’s precisely what Jesus’ followers and many were hoping for. By the end of the week, Jesus exceeded their expectations by dying on the cross and being raised from the dead to save people from their sins. And those who followed Jesus and placed their hopes in his death and resurrection were called fools with an Easter faith. Fools whose Hope is in the God who changes wilderness to land flowing with milk and honey, graves to gardens, and makes dead things come alive again.

Hope is not a joke because Easter proclaims that Hope is closer than we think! The season of Easter is a 50-day journey that provides us hope during life’s highs and lows. The season begins with Holy Week (Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Saturday) and culminates on Easter Sunday. But Easter Sunday is just the beginning of the season when people experience Jesus’ resurrection. There are 40 more days where people encounter the risen Lord through their day-to-day experiences. Whether through our expectations, doubts, losses, or what is familiar to us, the season of Easter proclaims that Hope is always closer than we think.

Each week in April, we will focus on different experiences of Easter to discover how hope is closer than you think. I look forward to seeing you at our worship experiences this month.

April 2 - Palm Sunday – People experience Hope beyond their expectations.

April 9 - Easter Sunday – Mary meets Hope at the garden tomb.

April 16 - Thomas experiences Hope through his doubts.

April 23 - Two Disciples discover Hope through their loss.

April 30 - Peter experiences Hope through the familiar.

At the Intersection,

Dr. Quincy D. Brown