Lent ~ Good Friday ~ "Crucify"

We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people. Oswald Chambers from My Utmost for His Highest

The account of the trial and crucifixion of Christ is in all the Gospels. Like reading the Christmas story in Luke each year, this is the day we remember, listen to or read ourselves the recorded history of Jesus' last hours on earth. Unlike the Christmas story, this one is harder to hear. Full of partial truths and truths ignored, betrayals and beatings, cowards and cynics, guilt and innocence, the story lets us walk the Via Dolorosa with Jesus and the crowd as we call, "Crucify! Crucify!"

Read John 18:28-19:42

Jesus fulfills the Scripture, lives God's Plan of salvation for us, willingly and obediently in detail. He is crucified between two thieves, a picture of disgrace and disillusionment for those who doubt Him, those who believe in Him, those who love Him. And the crowd? From Hallelujah! to Crucify! in a week's time, the crowd scatters and scorns with uncertainty. We stand in the crowd, both watching and wondering, fickle and frightened, confused and concerned.

Today, we are still standing in the crowd - we are the everyday people. We either endure the everyday beatings or participate in them. We either determine our worth and applaud our own plans, or we confess our sins and need for Grace. We either seek the world's approval or humbly accept God's plan. We are arrogant or obedient, either rolling the dice for a piece of Jesus or embracing the completeness of Perfect Love. We are the everyday reasons that Jesus is broken bread and poured out wine.

consider this!

• Why did the Jewish leaders say they wanted Jesus put to death?
• Did Pilate find Jesus guilty?
• Matthew 27:35-44; Mark 15:25-32; Luke 23:32-43; John 19:18-27: These are the Gospel's accounts of Jesus being placed on the cross. List all the people around the cross. What names are missing from the list that you would have expected?

Holy Father ~ My heart comes to the foot of the cross and recognizes Jesus as the Son of the Most High, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. I kneel and bow and weep that my sins nail Him to the cross, place the crown of thorns on His head, mock Him and reject Him. And still, He loves me more than I can understand. He willingly is battered and endures the beatings for me, for all of us. Forgiveness is mine. Grace reigns. Help me seek Your vision for my life. Let me endure what I must to honor You, to give You glory. Holy! Holy! Holy! You are Lord! Amen. ~dho

Lent ~ Betrayal and Intercession

"You will know which one to arrest when I go over and give him the kiss of greeting." Judas Iscariot (Matthew 29:49 NLT)

Betrayal robs more than loyalty; it robs the soul. Judas, one of the twelve disciples, one of the inner circle of Jesus, accepts thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Afterwards, disgraced and without reconciliation, Judas takes his own life. His actions demonstrate a lack of sincere commitment to Jesus. Judas, the pretender.

"I swear by God, I don't know this man you're talking about." Peter, the disciple of Christ
(Mark 14:71 NLT)

As Jesus gathers His disciples together one last time, He tells them that they would all desert Him. Peter's loyalty disagrees, "Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will." (Mark 14:29) But just as Jesus predictes - three times Peter denies knowing Christ. When he realizes he has betrayed his own vow, Peter breaks down and cries. Later, after the resurrection, Jesus asks Peter three times, "Do you love Me?" Peter responds each time, "Yes, Lord, I love You!" Jesus restores Peter, tells him, "Follow Me." Peter becomes the first great leader of the early church. Peter, the rock.

Read John 17

consider this!

• Meditate on this beautiful prayer that Jesus prayed. For whom was He praying?
• This prayer is called the "High Priestly Prayer." Why do you think it is called that?
• Do you ask Jesus to intercede for you?

Eternal Intercessor ~ My prayers rise to You, full of wordless gratitude for undeserved grace. Forgive me when I betray You in my deeds and with my words. Sin is the easier choice. But You have restored me with Amazing Grace. You call, "Follow Me!" I reply, "Lord, I love You!" Amen. ~dho

Lent ~ Believing or Not

This is and has been the Father's work from the beginning - to bring us into the home of His heart. George MacDonald

Despite the miracles Jesus performed, there were those who did not believe He was the Christ. There were those who did believe but were afraid to speak up, afraid of rejection or punishment. And still there were others in the crowd who believed, but their faith was fragile and weak. We, too, are standing in the crowd today. What do you choose?

Read John 12:37-50

Many people, including some of the Jewish leaders, believed in Him. But they wouldn't admit it to anyone because of their fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. For they loved human praise more than the praise of God. John 12:42-43 NLT

Jesus shouted to the crowds, "If you trust Me, you are really trusting God who sent Me." John 12:44 NLT

God's plan from the beginning was to offer us a way back to Him, to offer us salvation. We can read all the books ever written and ask all the questions ever wondered and still not have the evidence that our human minds crave. Grace came into the world in the form of Perfect Love, not in the way the world found logical. How often we choose human praise over God's praise! How seldom we really place our trust in God! Yet, God still chooses us!

consider this!

• What evidence is necessary to secure your belief in Christ?
• Using Jesus' words (vs. 44-50), explain Christ's purpose in coming to earth the first time?
• How does your desire for human praise stand in the way of trusting in God's Plan?

Lord ~ We stand in the crowd watching. Some around us choose the world, and others choose You but are afraid to tell. Then, there are those like me that choose the Grace that only Perfect Love can give. Forgive us when we find the world's applause more appealing than the Spirit's whispers. Forgive us when we stand in the crowd , and no one knows we stand with You. Amen. ~dho

Lent ~ Listening to the Father

Jesus' obedience means a total, fearless listening to His loving Father. . . We will never understand the full meaning of Jesus' richly varied ministry unless we see how the many things are rooted in the one thing: listening to the Father in the intimacy of perfect love.
Henri Nouwen from Show Me the Way (pg.112-113)

Time after time we find Jesus alone praying to the Father. When Jesus predicts His death on the cross to the crowd, He again seeks the Father's power. Nouwen writes, "This inexhaustible love between the Father and the Son includes and yet transcends all forms of love known to us." God is the Source of everything for Jesus ~ power, direction and love. Jesus seeks the Father in all things; He listens to the Father in the intimacy of perfect love.

Read John 12:27-36

"Father, glorify Your name."
Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." John 12:28

Jesus tells the crowd that God has spoken for your sake. There are questions and uncertainties about what it all means. Jesus wants them to understand that He is the Christ, the Messiah. He declares himself Light, calling them to believe and become sons of light. Jesus longs for those in the crowd who follow Him to become a community. Today, Jesus still desires for Believers to join together, to be an intimate community that worships and seeks the Father for all things. How do we achieve such unity and intimacy? By listening to the Father.

consider this!

• What did the people say they heard when a voice came from heaven?
• How did Jesus describe His death? Did the people understand?
• When do you go to the Father? Do you listen for His reply?

Father of Light ~ You fill my darkness with fireworks of possibilities and wonders that exceed my imagination. You call me to share this light with others. I am listening more and more to Your whispers and the Spirit's promptings. I want to be obedient to Your best for me. Forgive me when I settle for good enough. Amen. ~dho

Lent ~ The Crowd

Meister Eckhart (1260-1327): The temple God wants to be master of is the human soul, which he created and fashioned just like himself. We read that God said, “Let us make man in our own image.” . . . He made each soul so much like himself that nothing else in heaven or on earth resembles him as much. . . God wants the temple to be pure, so pure that nothing should dwell there except he himself. And that is the reason why he is so pleased when we really prepare our souls for him.

A growing crowd had followed Jesus these last weeks, watching and testifying to what they had witnessed ~ Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, His many miracles of healing, His parables and teachings. The religious rulers were threatened, fearing the crowd was beginning to follow Jesus, struggling with supernatural possibility and personal pride.

Read John 12:17-19

The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him."
John 12:19 NKJV

The crowd, like the Pharisees, came with their own agendas. Some caught up in the excitement of the moment, some looking for something extraordinary and some skeptical but curious. The Pharisees thought the crowd was foolish, but wanted to find something to discredit Jesus' popularity. We are sometimes the crowd ~ watching, wondering, looking for more! We are sometimes like the Pharisees ~ cynical, doubting, expecting less!

consider this!

• Picture yourself in the crowd. Who are you? What do you expect from Jesus?
• Consider yourself a Pharisee. What rules would you enforce? What questions do you ask?
• How are you preparing your soul for the living Christ?

Holy Father ~ Prepare my soul for the journey it must take. Help me step away from the crowd to be with You, to listen for You, to feel You near. Take my cynicism and make it compassion. Take my doubt and make it trust. Take my soul to Your high places of blessing. Amen. ~dho

Lent ~ Palm Sunday

A life of complete faith propels one to live not by his own ideas, impulses, or abilities, but by the leadings of the Spirit that have much the same ebb and flow and unpredictability that wind and waves do."
John Haughey

Those who watched for the Messiah, their King, anticipated much more pomp and circumstance, grandeur and power. They thought the Messiah would rule on earth. Instead, God's plan called for Jesus to enter Jerusalem on a donkey with His disciples following but not understanding. Often times God's plans for us come in unpredictable ways, like on a donkey, and we do not understand at the time.

Read John 12:12-16

"Fear not daughter of Zion;
Behold, your King is coming,
Sitting on a donkey's colt." John 12:15 NKJV

This prophesy was foretold by Zechariah but those looking for the Messiah must have forgotten. They did not recognize the Messiah riding a donkey into Jerusalem while the crowds waved palm branches shouting Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! The King of Israel. Like the Jews, sometimes we don't recognize Jesus ~ when He wears the tattered clothes of a beggar or the tears of an abused child or the hunger of a distant land or the loneliness of an empty life. Like the disciples, we don't always understand in the disappointment or the crisis or during the parade. Only afterwards, do we recognize Jesus and the Providence and Grace of a loving God.

consider this!

• The crowd was shouting words from a Psalm. Read Psalm 118 and find the words.
• When DID the disciples understand?
• As you read the verses, imagine yourself standing in the crowd. How might you react?

Faithful Father ~ Your Wisdom exceeds my best ideas. My heart's desire is that You find me faithful. Help me see You in all things. Amen. ~dho