Ash Wednesday is only two weeks away. As we enter into this time of reflection on the church calendar, the Common English Bible has once again come up with great resources. Check out THIS NEWS RELEASE for more information. Use these resources in your churches or for your study groups or even for personal time.
I am trying to imagine the level of hopelessness in the disciples on this particular day. One of the Psalms for today’s reading is Psalm 88:
1 LORD, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.
3 I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
8 You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief.
I call to you, LORD, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
13 But I cry to you for help, LORD;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, LORD, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?
15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
darkness is my closest friend.
(NIV)
That last line is powerful: “Darkness is my closest friend.”
John’s gospel doesn’t give us any doubt as to who Jesus was in his ministry. Jesus had no doubt. There is an assurance all the way through the story that he is fully aware of what the Father is doing.
From the first sign it was clear Jesus had a grasp of what was going on. His mother asked him to help with the wine situation at the wedding in Cana and he said bluntly, “My hour is not yet here.”
Then, we get to Chapter 12 and it is clear his hour was here. The time was upon him. The Greeks want to see him and he says, “The hour has come…”
He wrestles with this weight. “What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.”
Then there is the last supper. Church tradition holds that this is the day. Maundy Thursday. Jesus knew his hour had come.
It was time for him to leave this world and go to the Father. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (Jn. 13:1b)
This day, remember him. We have come to this hour. Please do not rush through this day without pausing for a moment and thinking, “This is your hour, Lord. You knew it. You didn’t shrink back. In the middle of chaos and disciples wrestling over who was the greatest, you served. You gave. This is your hour.”
At the Last Supper there is the accusation from Jesus that one would betray him. All the disciples are asking, “Lord, is it me?”
I’ve found that odd at times. Don’t they know if they’ve done this or not? Judas had to have been a bit comforted that so many other guys were confessing to things they didn’t do! He could get off the hook!
But not Peter. No, sir. This man, this self-made man, wasn’t going to deny Jesus! No way! He was going to fight for Jesus if necessary. He’s a man’s man! No wimp. He was a Harley-ridin’ dude.
Jesus had to let Peter know that even Peter had to come to the end of his rope. There needed to be a time in Peter’s life when he just couldn’t pull himself up by his bootstraps. The shepherd would be struck down and the sheep would scatter.
The cross brings every one of us to our end. If it doesn’t, then we really haven’t come to the cross. We haven’t let the cross really work on us. The One who is the Rock must crush us. We can’t be bootstrap Christians. Not in the Kingdom of God.
This week must remind us of our end. Maybe this week should bring us to our end. Maybe we haven’t really come to our end yet, and this trip to Good Friday is necessary. We must know we are empty in and of ourselves and only Christ and his power can raise us back up. Christ in us is our only hope.
Come to the cross. Be reminded of its power.
John 12:20ff
Some Greeks wanted to see Jesus, so Andrew and Philip let Jesus know.
Jesus’ response? “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
Imagine Andrew and Philip hearing that and then saying to each other, “So, is that a YES or a NO?”
I probably post this every year, but I LOVE this song!
This is a week given to meditating on the passion OF Christ. Yet, Philippians 3:1-14 is a reading for today. Here it is passion FOR Christ.
Everything must pale in comparison to my thirst for knowing him. Any accomplishments, any desired accomplishments, any distractions… those need to drop off. I must know HIM. It is surpassing worth. Nothing even comes close. It’s so opposite, everything for Paul was to be considered garbage (or dung). All of his learning… all of his status… nothing.
What is the value I place on truly knowing my Savior?
Jesus came in power, or so it seemed. Speculation about Jesus is rampant. He has come to Jerusalem in a season when the rumor mill is high. He has taken off the gloves, so to speak, with the Pharisees and it seems an all-out confrontation is ahead. There is no doubt in the minds of the people who would win that one!
So here comes Jesus and the people go crazy. They prepare the path for him like royalty. Their cloaks are laid on the ground so the donkey would not touch the dirt, along with palm branches. They praised him as the Son of David. Matthew reflects on the words of Zechariah:
“Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you…’”
The city is stirred.
Jesus gets right to work, according to Matthew’s account. He enters the Temple and rips away. He ran out the money changers and declared his house was supposed to be a house of prayer, not a den of thieves!
This is what we’ve been waiting for! Finally! Some REAL action!
We have our expectations. We know what we need. We know how we need deliverance! Our minds have worked those scenarios dozens of times! We see Jesus riding in to save the day. Healing comes. Deliverance comes. The answer arrives just in the nick of time.
The people had their expectations. They wanted Rome overthrown. They wanted false spiritual leaders run out. They wanted Jesus on the throne. And here he came! Coming in like a humble king. Coming in and trashing the seats of thieves who had been spiritually ripping people off for years! Coming in and upsetting the status quo. This is our Man! THIS is a king!
He heals more people. The fever for a king is rising!
Now we’ll get our answers! Now, he will be the King I’ve been looking for all this time!
Expectations.
All of the texts for Sunday speak to resurrection power. Ezekiel 37 is the Spirit bringing life into a place where death has ruled for a long time. John 11 is the Spirit bringing life where death has gripped Lazarus for a few days. Romans 8 is the power of the Spirit breathing new life into our dead souls.
This thought has come to me in all of this: When Jesus speaks (and I am thinking here of Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus) NO GRAVE WINS.
