Jesus's Message From the Cross

 

Jesus's Message From the Cross

 

Matthew 27:45-50, NIV - From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.  About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink.  The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

 

In the last reflection, we talked about how alone Jesus must have felt.  We took some comfort in the fact that when we feel completely cut off from everything, we can take solace in the presence of Christ with us.  But listen to Jesus’s last intelligible words in the gospel of Matthew again.  Jesus knew these words would be recognized as the beginning of Psalm 22.  By simply quoting the first line, he is able to deliver a lengthy description of His thoughts in the last moments before He dies. Today, I include a link to a dramatic reading of this Psalm as a way of hearing Christ speak directly to us from the cross.  I encourage you to listen to it and reflect afterwards. 

 

Psalm 22 Dramatic Reading

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz4gshe7jQE

 

Question: What happens in your mind and spirit as you hear this Psalm in Jesus’s voice from the cross?

 

Prayer:  Write you own prayer today in response to your experience of hearing these words.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for those who feel cut off from God.

 

Song:  Psalm 22 – Francesca LaRosa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3YNrluAXHA

What Hurts Even More. . .

 

What Hurts Even More. . .

 

Matthew 27:38-44, The Message - Along with him, they also crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days—so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!”

The high priests, along with the religion scholars and leaders, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him: “He saved others—he can’t save himself! King of Israel, is he? Then let him get down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then! He was so sure of God—well, let him rescue his ‘Son’ now—if he wants him! He did claim to be God’s Son, didn’t he?” Even the two criminals crucified next to him joined in the mockery.

 

                I don’t pretend to know what Jesus went through hanging on the cross.  Obviously, the physical suffering He endured must be worse than anything I can imagine. I wonder though, if the utter rejection and scorn by all those standing there and walking by was even worse.  Our human instinct is to have compassion for someone in obvious pain, even when it is someone we might be at odds with in a better situation.  Jesus was enduring the kind of suffering that we often say, “I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”  Yet simple passers-by jeered and taunted Jesus.  The high priests, having accomplished their goal, were actually taking joy from watching Him suffer.  Even those who suffered with Him on the crosses next to Him “joined in the mockery.” His disciples had abandoned Him in the worst hour.  Jesus was utterly alone. 

                In my worst moments, I have always had people who I knew were still in my corner.  I am aware that I am profoundly blessed in this way.  However, I have had moments when I felt that those people in my corner were so far away and/or didn’t understand my suffering.  It is in those times that I think of Jesus on the cross.  Jesus always understands because He has been there and worse.  In those darkest of moments, my conversation is with Jesus.  I know He hears.  I know He cares.  More than anything, I’m reminded that those “cross” moments don’t last forever.  As Tony Campolo is famous for saying, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s a coming.

                In the scripture above, we remember the moments when the entire world turned it’s back on the One who created the world in the first place.  We remember that we are never truly alone as long as we remember that Jesus has promised He will be with us ALWAYS.  It may be Friday, but Sunday is coming. 

 

Question:  What do you do when you feel most alone or isolated?

 

Prayer:  God of us all, Your love never ends.  Your Presence is always with us.  When everything and/or everyone else in our life fails, you are still God.  Help us to know that comfort even in our darkest moments. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for displaced refugees all over the world today.

 

Song:  O, the Deep Love of Jesus – Simon Khorolskiy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLTu1xv2-Us

How Do We Know What Crucifixion Looked Like?

 

How Do We Know What Crucifixion Looked Like?

 

Matthew 27:33-37, NIV - They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”).  There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.  When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.  And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.  Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is Jesus, the king of the Jews.

 

Crucifixion was ghastly.  For hundreds of years after Jesus was crucified, Christian artists never depicted this brutal execution method.  As horrible as modern Christians imagine the crucifixion was, early Christians worked hard not to imagine it.  Most of them had seen at least one crucifixion because they lived in a time and place where they were common.  It is estimated that Matthew wrote this gospel in 85 AD, approximately half a century after Jesus was crucified.  Still, there is no description of what crucifixion involved.  Matthew (nor the other Gospel writers for that matter) felt the need to include details because everyone already knew those details all too well.  We know the details because of historians like Josephus and others who knew that future generations would no longer realize just how barbaric the practice was. 

                Matthew did not have to paint a picture with words of what the crucified Jesus would look like for he knew his readers would already know the image well.  To that image, Matthew adds the sign hanging above Jesus’s head which listed the charge for which Jesus hung on the cross, “this is Jesus, the king of the Jews.”  Jesus had mounted no armed revolution nor challenged any ruler.  Matthew makes sure we know that Jesus hangs there for no legitimate reason, as if a legitimate reason exists for killing a human being in this barbaric way.  While Jesus hangs there, he listens as the guards who just nailed Him to the cross cast lots to see who gets His clothes.  In addition to painting the guards as completely unfazed by the cruelty they performed day after day, this detail also signals to us that Jesus hung on that cross naked.  The humiliation was complete. 

                After the winner of Jesus’s clothes was determined, they just sat here and watched Jesus.  This, of course, was their job.  No one must interfere with the execution, which normally would take about six to nine hours.  Other gospels suggest that Jesus didn’t last that long, for he had already been badly injured.  In any case, all who were present just sat there watching bleeding Jesus slowly suffocate to death over the course of at least three to four hours.   Can you imagine spending hours watching such a thing?

                Most of us can’t imagine that.  I’m pretty sure I would have had to walk away or at least look away.   Even in our culture that often glorifies and desensitizes us to violence, this is too much.  Gory deaths on TV take a few seconds, about the same amount of time as it takes to read the verses above.  We move on quickly.  My aim here in this reflection was to slow the process a bit, to invite us to feel the barbarism of this moment, to sit with Jesus’s utter humiliation and pain for at least a few minutes. 

                Why?  Because this moment is why Jesus said that He came:

“From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. “ (Matt 16:21-22)

The Son of God came to suffer and be murdered.  If that is why Jesus said that He came, then it at least merits our deliberate reflection.  So. my hope is that, as we encounter this awful moment over the next few reflections, we will give Jesus that – a few moments of making ourselves see what we’d rather not see or dwell on. 

 

Question:  What happens in you when you spend a few minutes thinking about the difficult details of the crucifixion? 

 

Prayer:  Jesus, it is hard to look upon You hanging on that cross.  Even so, we look into Your eyes as you willingly submit to it for our sake.  Help us to not look away.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people that you are aware of that are suffering terribly right now.

 

Song:  When I Survey the Wondrous Cross – Kathryn Scott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kimLXNhzZMA

Simon of Cyrene

 

Simon of Cyrene

 

Matthew 27:32, NIV - As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.

 

I encourage you to watch/listen to the song first today.  It is a dramatization of the scripture.

Song:  Watch the Lamb – Ray Boltz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNT1AThOgME

 

Like many Christian songs, “Watch the Lamb” takes dramatic license to tell a powerful story.  Simon is named by Matthew, Mark, and Luke as the man ordered to carry Jesus’s cross, the assumption being that Jesus had been too badly brutalized by this time to carry the cross any further.  The presence of Simon’s two sons in the song is derived from Mark’s account who names Simon as the father of Alexander and Rufus.  We don’t know if the two boys were there to see their father carry Jesus’s cross, but it makes for a powerful song.  Some Christian traditions say that both Alexander and Rufus became missionaries and that Rufus is the same early Christian leader greeted by the Apostle Paul in Romans 16:13. 

In any case, this song does a masterful job at putting us inside the story of a man who not only witnessed the crucifixion, but was forced to participate in it.  Almost without fail, the song draws tears from my eyes since I first heard it decades ago.  It gets to me because I can’t help but wonder what it would have been like to be Simon that day, to be pulled into a drama that you had no knowledge of before that day.  It was no doubt an experience that would change his life forever.  It would change the course of his family forever.  All this happened because of something Simon was forced to do, not something he chose to do. 

I think of so many people I know personally whose lives were also irrevocably changed by experiences that were forced upon them (soldiers who were drafted, women who were raped, children that were abused, etc.).  I don’t pretend to understand that kind of suffering, but I am reminded that it exists every moment of every day when I read about Simon.  I’m also reminded that God in the flesh, a man we call Jesus, chose to enter into that kind of horrific suffering.  God did that, not because He was forced to do so, but voluntarily.  He could have stopped it, but as Max Lucado famously said, “He Chose the Nails” (2017). 

In this encounter with Simon, we see the suffering of humanity and the suffering of God meet.  Wherever we see people being forced to suffer, we can be assured that Jesus is there in the midst of it.  When we suffer, Jesus is there.  Likewise, Simon reminds us that we are invited to enter into Christ’s suffering.  Though it is not pleasant, allowing ourselves to be drawn into the suffering of Jesus is somehow redemptive in ways that are hard to put into words.  It is part of the reason that the church devoted a whole season in the Church liturgical year (Lent), to doing just that, considering the suffering of Christ for us.  Lent is a time to allow our suffering and God’s suffering to become intermingled, like that of Simon and Jesus.  This not only prepares us for the powerful and joyous celebration of Easter, but it somehow, in the mysterious grace of God, holds the possibility of our suffering being transformed into our freedom from all that would hold us down. 

 

Question:  What does the experiencing the story of Simon of Cyrene do for you?

 

Prayer:  God, thank you for entering into our suffering and for inviting us to enter into Yours.  Though we might not feel thankful for such an invitation, we thank you for it nonetheless.  May the intermingling of Your suffering and our suffering bring redemption and transformation to our souls.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for abused children, battered spouses, and others you know who have been forced to suffer through no choice of their own.

Jesus Before Pilate and the “Wisdom” of Crowds

 Jesus Before Pilate and the “Wisdom” of Crowds

 

Matthew 27:15-26, NIV - Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.  At that time, they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas.  So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”  For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

 

                We read this passage in the twenty-first century when Christianity is one of the world’s major faith traditions and it’s hard to imagine how a crowd would turn on Jesus the way they did.  It is probable that at least some in that crowd had been in the crowd just a few days earlier when Jesus entered into Jerusalem on a donkey.  Then, they chanted “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”  Those highest “hosannas” were now transformed into the blood thirsty “crucify him!” 

                The dangerous nature of crowds is that clever instigators can build momentum for a sinister idea that most in the crowd would have never pursued on their own.  Peaceful protests turn violent with a well-timed disruption.  A gathering of curious onlookers is whipped into riotous frenzy by skillful orators.  Really bad ideas seem not so bad when everyone else around you seems to think they are good.   

                What’s interesting about this crowd shouting “crucify him” is that the undisputed leader in the situation is the one swayed by the crowd.  Pilate was certainly no angel, but he really has no interest in killing Jesus.  In addition, he’s got his wife sending him messages to avoid doing anything with Jesus because of the nightmares she’s had about Him.  It seems clear that Pilate’s play here is to release Jesus and make the crowd happy at a time when the city is overcrowded with people there for Passover.  But the religious leaders’ agenda (that has been well-documented by Matthew by this point) is to kill Jesus and so they pull their strings and push their buttons to turn the pious pilgrims into an angry mob.  People who were their to celebrate God’s deliverance of their people from the angel of death in Egypt now deliver God’s Son to death on a Roman cross. 

                On countless occasions, Edmund Burke has been quoted as saying, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  However, there is no evidence that Burke ever said it.  Furthermore, even though the sentence evokes strong emotion, it just isn’t true.  It takes way more than the inaction of good people for evil to prosper.  Those committed to the evil goals must be brilliant and persistent.  It takes winning others over to the dark mission, often recasting nefarious goals in bright and positive colors.  Certainly, it helps if those who see the evil remain quiet, but evil isn’t the inevitable result of good people who do nothing; it’s the gradual convincing of more and more people that the evil isn’t evil at all, but in fact the greatest good.   Burke did actually say something like this in his “Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents” (1770).  Here’s what he said; “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” 

                In order to combat the momentum of crowds, good people “must associate.”  The crucifixion of Jesus, over the course of nearly two thousand years, has formed the one of the largest “associations” the world has ever known – the Christian Church.  But the passage above warns those who belong to this association that we are not immune to the same phenomena that led to the crowd turning on Jesus.  Christians since the time of Jesus, have perpetrated heinous and barbarous acts in Jesus’s name (The Crusades, Inquisition, Witch Trials, and countless others) that Jesus would surely say “I know you not” to those who name Him as their inspiration.  When such evils begin to gain traction, those who recognize it as evil must “re-associate” in order to counteract the momentum.  It’s not enough to simply call out evil; we must join hands and oppose it lest Jesus be handed over for crucifixion once again.

               

Question:  Have you found yourself “going with the flow” when deep down, you knew “the flow” was headed in the wrong direction?

 

Prayer:  God forgive us when we get swept away by popular, but dubious ideas because they are popular.  Build into our spirits Your vision of what’s right and help us find others with whom we can join hands and be allies for Your Good.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for all kinds of teachers you know today.

 

Song:  Howard Gray - Lee Domann

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjl2vKaYwHI

Trial Before Pilate – Part 1

 

Trial Before Pilate – Part 1

 

Matthew 27:11-14, NIV - Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.  Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?”  But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

 

Silence.  The chief priests make their charges concerning Jesus before Pilate and Jesus’s response is silence.  Before this moment, Jesus has always had the perfect response.  He would return their questions with a vexing question on His own.  He would tell a parable that would make them look silly.  Jesus always knew the perfect way to return the advances of His enemies.  But now, with His life in the balance, silence. 

This response, too, is perfect.  Trials are always all about guilt or innocence.  There are arguments concerning the charges.  Are the charges legitimate?  Can they be substantiated by facts?  Trials are usually much more contentious than this one.  But Matthew makes it clear that this trial is not about any of that.  This is about Jesus voluntarily giving His life away.  Surely, He could have said something that would have prompted Pilate to release him.  But His mission was to give His life, and so for that, words were not necessary.  Matthew wants us to see what he saw that day. . . God in the flesh refusing to defend Himself and voluntarily submitting to be executed. 

Why would God do that?  If you’re expecting a nice and neat couple-sentence answer in this short devotional, I’m afraid you will be as disappointed as Pilate was in the face of Jesus’s silence.  Millions of pages of writing have been devoted to that question since Jesus stood before Pilate and I suspect that many more will be written before Jesus returns.  While I have greatly benefited from reading several thousand of those pages devoted to this question, I still have no easy answer.  Why would God submit to be killed by those created by God?

I don’t think the answer is supposed to be easy.  I’m not even sure having an answer to that question is as important as continuing to ask the question.  No other religion on earth claims that God would do such a thing, so it’s only Christians that even ask this question in earnest.  In a very real way, asking this question is what makes us Christian.

For me, continuing to ask this question has brought me closer to the heart of God.  I have encountered and internalized many beautiful answers, but all of them put together don’t seem to put the question to rest.  There is still more to know.  So I keep asking the question with an open heart.  I’m sure I will continue to ask it for the remainder of my days.  I feel quite sure that even on my last day, there will be more to know.  Praise be to the God who agreed to die for those God created. 

 

Question:  Why would God willingly submit to death at the hands of human beings?

 

Prayer:  God, we see Your love for us in Jesus’s death.  We see our salvation in Jesus’s death.  We see Your heart and character in Jesus’s death.  But we see even more than all of that is Jesus’s death that defies answers or words.  We continue to seek You in Jesus’s death.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for God to bless people you know who practice other faiths.

 

Song:  Praise the Lord – Crowder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c-9LxROAkI

Judas and the Blood Money

 

Judas and the Blood Money

 

Matthew 27:1-10, NIV - Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.”  So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.  That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day.  Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel,  and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

 

It is striking the way Matthew draws comparisons and contrasts between the chief priests and Judas in their reaction to Jesus’s innocence.  Both Judas and the Priests are complicit in Jesus’s fate.  Both at least admit Jesus’s innocence.  And they both pronounce sentences.  The priests, of course, doubled-down on their complicity to kill Jesus and turn Him over to Pilate who is the only one with power to execute. And Judas, overwhelmed with guilt for his role in this tragic plot, pronounces conviction and death sentence on himself for betraying an innocent man.  These are the similarities.

Within those similarities, Matthew has highlighted some stark contrasts.  The judgement of the chief priests have nothing to do with justice; they are simply trying to eliminate what they believe to a threat to their power and position.  Judas suicide is an effort to mete out justice upon himself for his crimes.  Judas gives up the money he was paid for his betrayal because he wants no benefit for his duplicity.  The priests, even though they know it is blood money, use it for their own interests while skirting the regulations that govern the use of such currency. 

Both the priests and Judas were wrong in their actions.  The evil of the priests is more apparent for their self-interest and their blatant disregard for justice is obvious.   They absolve themselves of all responsibility for their treachery and they make schemes to get around the regulations governing them to accomplish their dark goals.  Judas takes the matters of judgement into his own hands, a power he has not been given by the law or by God.  Confessing his sin and trying to make amends (return the money) were the right things to do, but killing himself was not.  Both the priests and Judas left God out of the equation.  The priests made a mockery of God’s justice and Judas denies God’s mercy, forgiveness, redemption and love. 

But here is the most amazing thing about all of this; God’s providence is seen even in all the betrayals of God’s justice and redemption.  The priests unknowingly participate in the plan of God by their turning over of Jesus to Pilate.  Their use of the blood money unknowingly fulfills prophecy made hundreds of years before by God’s messenger Jeremiah.  The treachery of the priests is a tool in the hand of God for the redemption of all people.  And though Judas carries out capital punishment upon himself, there is even still, the possibility of his redemption in eternity by a God whose “yes” is stronger than any “no.”  Though God would never condone suicide, God’s love is capable of superceding it.  The priests and Judas cannot thwart the providence of the Almighty. 

Let us resolve to avoid the mistakes of the priests and of Judas.  Let us not take the justice of God into our own hands.  Let us not presume to know the limits of God’s love, mercy and forgiveness.  Let us accept that God’s plan will prevail whether we cooperate with it or not.  Let us let God, and God alone, be God. 

 

Questions:  Have you ever acted as if you knew better than God what was necessary in a given situation?   Have you ever pronounced a sentence upon yourself with no thought God that somehow, God could bring redemption from even the worst of your mistakes?

 

Prayer:  Sovereign God, forgive us when we leave you out of the circumstances of our lives and relationships.  Help us to more fully trust your providence, justice, and love.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the souls and families of those who have taken their own lives.

 

Song:  Hand of Providence – Michael W. Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE2xpEl9XkI

Peter’s Denials

 

Peter’s Denials

 

Matthew 26:69-75, The Message - All this time, Peter was sitting out in the courtyard. One servant girl came up to him and said, “You were with Jesus the Galilean.”

In front of everybody there, he denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

As he moved over toward the gate, someone else said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.”

Again he denied it, salting his denial with an oath: “I swear, I never laid eyes on the man.”

Shortly after that, some bystanders approached Peter. “You’ve got to be one of them. Your accent gives you away.”

Then he got really nervous and swore. “I don’t know the man!”

Just then a rooster crowed. Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” He went out and cried and cried and cried.

 

Fear does terrible things to people.  It makes men do the opposite of what they want to do in their heart of hearts.  It drives wedges between people who would normally be kind to one another.  Fear makes people susceptible to believe things that actually increase their fear.  Fear feeds on fear and multiplies itself.  

Only hours earlier, Peter was speaking boldly about never denying or forsaking his Master Jesus.  Then his Master is arrested and has been brought before the Religious leaders who Peter knows intend to have Jesus killed.  Fear grows as Peter surmises that maybe, he will be next.  And before he realizes it, his fear has formed the denials on his lips.  Peter does what he could have never seen himself doing.  Fear is a terrible thing.

I know how he feels. I remember one time before I was a pastor when I had been asked to speak briefly at a groundbreaking ceremony at our church.  I had notecards with my little speech all written out.  When the time came and I walked up on the platform, I looked down out my cards.  I was so petrified that I could not read.  I felt like my brain was paralyzed.  It was.  Fear had taken over and I was nearly powerless.  I don’t even remember what happened after that. It just wasn’t good.

That experience was an obstacle for me for next six years as I struggled with a call to pastoral ministry.  I had begun to believe that such a calling was impossible for me. After all, how could I take up a profession that centers around public speaking when I was unable to read in public?  There have been many other moments when fear has gotten such a hold on me that I have said things contrary to what I believe.  I have acted in ways that betray my true character.  So, I feel a connection to poor Peter.  I’m not sure I would have performed better than him given the same circumstances.    

I take comfort that Peter was also the one Jesus called “the Rock,” the one Jesus said He would build His church upon.  And Peter was that rock, he would become one of the central leaders in the early Christian church, an author of Christian scripture, and the one that the Catholic church would refer to as the first Pope.  He was delivered from fear by the Risen Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Fear did not have the last word with Peter and it did not have the last word with me either.  Though I still sometimes get nervous in certain situations, I have been able to do things I never would have imagined that day standing on the platform at the groundbreaking.  To God be the glory.

 

Question:  Is there something you feel a leading to do, but so far fear has stopped you? 

 

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, deliver us from paralyzing fear.  Help us move forward in the power that comes from your Spirit and our trust in you.  May we be bold for you O God.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people you know who are living in fear right now (war-torn countries, domestic violence, resource scarcity, etc)

 

Song:  Fear is a Liar – Zach Williams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQTnREEtuNk  

At the House of Caiaphus

At the House of Caiaphus

 

Matthew 26:57-68, The Voice - The crowd that had arrested Jesus took Him to Caiaphas, the high priest. The scribes and elders had gathered at Caiaphas’s house and were waiting for Jesus to be delivered.  Peter followed Jesus (though at some distance so as not to be seen). He slipped into Caiaphas’s house and attached himself to a group of servants. And he sat watching, waiting to see how things would unfold.

The high priest and his council of advisors first produced false evidence against Jesus—false evidence meant to justify some charge and Jesus’ execution.  But even though many men were willing to lie, the council couldn’t come up with the evidence it wanted. Finally, two men stood up.

Two Men: Look, He said, “I can destroy God’s temple and rebuild it in three days.” What more evidence do you need?

Then Caiaphas the high priest stood up and addressed Jesus.

Caiaphas: Aren’t You going to respond to these charges? What exactly are these two men accusing You of?

Jesus remained silent.

Caiaphas (to Jesus): Under a sacred oath before the living God, tell us plainly: are You the Anointed One, the Son of God?

Jesus: So you seem to be saying. I will say this: beginning now, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God’s power and glory and coming on heavenly clouds.

The high priest tore his robes and screeched.

Caiaphas: Blasphemy! We don’t need any more witnesses—we’ve all just witnessed this most grievous blasphemy, right here and now. So, gentlemen, what’s your verdict?

Gentlemen: He deserves to die.

Then they spat in His face and hit Him. Some of them smacked Him, slapped Him across the cheeks, and jeered.

Some of the Men: Well, Anointed One, prophesy for us, if You can—who hit You? And who is about to hit You next?

 

                My encouragement to us as we work our way through the passion narrative is that we force ourselves to be present – really be present.  Imagine that you are there as Peter was, hanging out in the shadows, watching the terrible events unfold.  I will confess that it has become harder and harder for me to do, so I do know that it is no small thing to ask. 

Hear the witnesses make up lies about Jesus, so outlandish and unbelievable that even though the religious leaders were seeking contrived charges, they deemed these lies unusable.  Finally, someone recalls something Jesus did actually say, but they twist it out of context.  Even in stating a technical fact, they are lying.  In our present era of alternative facts, this should be too hard to imagine.  But hear this shady tactic used against our Savior.

Hear the silence in the room as Jesus is asked to respond to the false charges.  Why won’t He at least tell them what He meant when He made that statement?  Everyone there wants Jesus to say something, but He doesn’t give them the satisfaction.  Feel the building tension as the silence becomes painful.   

Hear Caiaphus break the silence to continue the interrogation of Jesus. 

“Are You the Anointed One, the Son of God?

                While Jesus doesn’t directly answer Caiaphus, He knowingly gives the gathered Council all they need to condemn Him.  But hear the words Jesus speaks.  From now on, when anyone thinks of God, they will simultaneously think of Jesus.  God’s glory is Jesus’s glory.  When God returns. Jesus will be right there.  Caiaphus may think he has all the power in the room, but Jesus’s power is synonymous with God’s power.  Experience the irony of Jesus’s statement even as Jesus submits to the inferior powers present in the room. 

                Be jolted by Caiaphus’s sudden verdict, “Blashphemy!”  What are your feelings as you hear all those in the room agree that Jesus should die because they cannot handle His Truth. 

                Here’s where it gets a bit harder.  Watch as these religious leaders, the supposed representatives of God’s goodness, spit in the very face of God-in-the-flesh.  Don’t turn your eyes away as these “paragons of God’s shalom/peace” punch God in the face with their bare knuckles.  Continue to strain your attention as they mock the God that they claim to be defending. 

                It’s important to not push this discomfort and shame of this story to the edges of our consciousness because the shame and violence God endured at the hands of the very people God chose to be the messengers of God’s truth is the heart of the truth Matthew would have us not just hear, but experience. To experience this truth is to begin to experience the surprising character of God that is revealed in these uncomfortable moments.  Matthew didn’t record this story so vividly just so we would know the details.  Matthew is hoping that we will experience this story in all it’s awful glory.  Matthew is hoping that we will meet God in the same way that he did – in this gut-wrenching story. 

 

Question:  How do you experience the details of Matthew’s account of the suffering of Jesus?

 

Prayer:  Lord, it’s hard for us to face the details of suffering you willingly endured at the hands of our fellow human beings.  But as we do, help us experience the length, height, and depth of Your grace and love.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who are experiencing brutal violence today.

 

Song:  This Jesus Must Die (Jesus Christ Superstar) – Andew Lloyd Weber

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0paphVdW2qs   

“Then All the Disciples Deserted Him and Fled

“Then All the Disciples Deserted Him and Fled”

 

Matthew 26:55-56, NIV - In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me.  But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

 

In all the times I’ve read through Matthew, I have no memory of reading the last line of the passage above.  I was well aware that all the disciples who had been with Jesus for three years do desert Jesus eventually.  But in Matthew (and in Mark), this is the moment – in the same moment that Judas betrays Jesus and Jesus is arrested – the disciples desert Him.  I find it rather interesting that Mark and Matthew, both the author of gospels and disciples of Jesus, report this desertion about themselves.  Instead of editing out that small detail that many (including me) have missed, they report their own desertion of the Savior.  I’m thinking I would have been tempted to leave that out of an account that people will be reading thousands of years later.  Luke and John do leave out this detail.

However, I’m glad Matthew and Mark do not.  For Matthew, this is the moment that what Jesus has been telling them all along finally hits home with the disciples.  Jesus comes to the moment when He is confronted by the authorities and instead of dispersing them with overwhelming supernatural force, Jesus SUBMITS to them.  The gravity of that must have hit the disciples like a ton of bricks.  There will be no military revolution.  Jesus has been telling his disciples that He will be arrested, convicted and killed.  The arrest has just happened as He said.  The conviction and execution must be just around the corner.  It is this realization that sends them running – that and the very real fear that they may be next.  Judas has betrayed Jesus; why would he not betray all the others as well?  So they run.

Remember, Matthew is writing this account decades after these events unfold.  He is a leader in the early church that is growing by leaps and bounds.  Matthew himself is now at odds with authorities and will eventually face his own martyrdom.  But he feels is important to confess that before all of that, he deserted Jesus.  He is among those who ran.  I’m grateful for that confession because I haven’t always stood up for Jesus when the opportunities presented themselves.  Though I have sought to be faithful to my life’s mission to love God and love people, there have been times when I’ve run and hid as well.  And just like Matthew’s story, my story is not complete without the less flattering details.  The chains are not broken until it is acknowledged that the chains exist. Grace is not amazing if there is nothing to be saved from.  Redemption is not complete without confession.  Matthew knew this and proclaimed his desertion decades later because He knew it.  Matthew was in as much need of redemption as anyone who would ever read his gospel. 

 

Question:  Is confession part of the regular practices of your faith?  Why or why not?

 

Prayer:  God, we like to appear to others as better than we really are.  We are tempted to hide our shortcomings and failures.  Help us see those failures as testaments to your grace and our redemption.  Help us to tell our complete stories so that others might see the possibility of redemption and grace for themselves.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who seem to be buried by the mistakes of the past.

 

Song:  Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) – BYU Noteworthy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6Mtpk4jeVA

Putting the Sword Away

 

Putting the Sword Away

 

Matthew 26:50b-54, NIV - Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.  With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.  Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

 

“For those who draw the sword will die by the sword.”  This saying of Jesus is straightforward enough.  If you are violent, you draw violence to yourself.  Jesus chides his followers for resisting his arrest with violence.  The Jesus answer to injustice is not a physical weapon.  He expands upon this point by reminding all who were there that if force were the appropriate response, he could call upon an undefeatable army of angels.  He has chosen not to do that because that is not the way of the Kingdom.

I believe this is a timely word for us today – not because we don’t already know this, but because it is so easy to forget in the elevated rhetorical temperature that has spread through every form of media these days.  Legal battles, threats of violence, and hate speech all seem like a normal day in our culture right now.   I have to admit that I have metaphorically reached for my sword a couple of times in the past week.  It is so easy to get caught up in the moment and throw ourselves into the fray.

But Jesus reminds us that is not who we are.  We are people who turn down the thermostat.  We are the people of nonviolence.  We can be outraged by injustice, but we are the people who continue to love all while we confront the injustice.  We can feel hurt by what others say, but we are the people who refuse to resort to hurting others in response.  We are the ones who show others there is a “more excellent way.” (1 Corinthians 12:31)  We love when others hate.  We serve when others take.  We are kind and gentle when others are harsh and profane.  We show authentic joy and peace in the face of sarcasm and ridicule.  This is the way we live because this is the way we want to die instead of by the sword.

Remember who you are and put the sword away.

 

Prayer:  God help us beat our swords into plowshares so that we may sow the real seeds of your Kingdom. Amen

 

Prayer focus:  Pray for our leaders on both sides of the aisle today.

 

Song: Let There Be Peace on Earth – Vince Gill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPH4LRASWbo

The Dirty Deed is Done

 

The Dirty Deed is Done

 

Matthew 26:47-50, NIV - While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.  Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.”  Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.

Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”

 

This passage marks the beginning of Matthew’s passion narrative, the account of Jesus submitting to arrest, trial, conviction, and sentence to death by Roman crucifixion.  It begins with thick irony, with the kiss of a friend.  This kiss of greeting marks Jesus for death.  Jesus knows this is coming, but Jesus is still human; the betrayal must have really sting, being turned over to authorities by a friend who has been with Jesus every day for three years. 

I think of times when friends have let me down, when personal attacks came from unexpected people.  I do not, in any way, compare those painful experiences with what Jesus endured in this moment.  For in a very real way, Judas’s betrayal represents the betrayal of Jesus by all God’s people.  It represents my betrayal of Jesus and yours as well. I think of a song by the Christian Rock band, Petra in 1982. The song for the day is that song linked for today, but if Rock Music is not your cup of tea, I invite you to simply read the lyrics here, addressed to Jesus.

I wonder how it makes you feel when the prodigal won't come home

I wonder how it makes you feel when he'd rather be on his own

I wonder what it's like for you when a lamb has gone astray

I wonder what it's like for you when your children disobey

 

Chorus:  It must be like another thorn struck in your brow

It must be like another close friend's broken vow

It must be like another nail right through your wrist

It must be just like

Just like Judas' kiss

 

I wonder how it makes you feel when no one seeks your face

I wonder how it makes you feel when they give up in the race

I wonder what it's like for you when they willingly disobey

I wonder what it's like for you when they willingly walk away.

Repeat Chorus

 

This passage confronts us with the ways in which we participated in the moment of Jesus’s betrayal.  Jesus the felt the rejection of all in Judas’s kiss. Yet Jesus, in the very moment of treachery, addresses Judas as friend.  Though Judas has turned away from Jesus, Jesus has not turned away from Judas.  Neither does Jesus turn away from us in the midst of our fallenness. 

 

Question:  What are the ways in which you have let Jesus down.

 

Prayer:  Forgive us Lord, when our independence becomes rebellion and our mistaken expectations lead us to move against the way you are leading. 

 

Prayer Focus:  Spend some time confessing your sins to God and receiving God’s forgiveness.  Hear the voice of Jesus calling you “friend.”

 

Song:  Judas Kiss - Petra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CJJ03ueOfI  

Gethsemane

Gethsemane

 

Matthew 26:36-46, New Living Translation - Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?  Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”

Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away[f] unless I drink it, your will be done.”  When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again.  Then he came to the disciples and said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”

 

                Right after promising that they would die with Jesus, the Peter, James, and John promptly fall asleep three times when Jesus asked them to watch and pray with Him.  They can tell Jesus is in great emotional pain, but for whatever reason, they can’t stay awake.  Indeed, one of Jesus’s most famous sayings is true; “the spirit is willing, but the body (flesh) is weak.”  Matthew is telling this story on his disciple brothers, but he is telling it on himself as well.  In a very real way, Matthew is telling this story on all of us.

                On too many occasions to count, I have promised the moon, but never got off the ground.  I have watched others fail in the same way, feeling connected to them by misplaced ambitions.  It still surprises me how quickly the powerful and inspired moment of promise can devolve into embarrassing failure.  This doesn’t happen all the time; there are plenty of times when my follow-through has been admirable and productive, but it doesn't erase the memories of alarmingly weak resolve.  I wish I knew what the difference between the two extremes was.  I do not.  My “body” is weak.

                Matthew wants us to see the contrast here between the disciples and Jesus.  Jesus is suffering the opposite of the disciples.  His “Spirit” is unwilling; He asks God repeatedly to find another way.  However, His “body” is strong.  He pushes back on the unwillingness of His Spirit in order to stay focused on what He has been called to do.  He prays His way through the unwillingness of His Spirit.  As a result, He leaves the garden that night with Spirit and Body strong and resolved to stay the terrible course. 

                After the third time of finding his comrades asleep, Jesus seems to acknowledge that sleeping is what they needed to do.  They will each have their key moments of decision, but not tonight.  Tonight, they will see Jesus meet his moment.  Perhaps seeing Jesus move so decisively into the trial before Him will be instructive to them when their moment comes.  But tonight, they sleep.  Tonight is Jesus’s time, not theirs.  That, of course, is what Jesus states when he wakes them up the third time.  “The time is come. . . my betrayer is here.” 

                It’s super obvious that even now, the disciples are not prepared for what is about to happen.  And Jesus’s acknowledgement of their need to sleep seems to confirm that there is no way for them to be fully prepared for this moment.  Jesus has prepared them as much as they can be prepared, but ultimately, they must simply go through the moment unprepared.  They must, as Jesus tells them earlier, “fall to pieces.”   

                In some crazy way, this is comforting to me.  It tells me that my many moments of failure despite my bold intentions is more normal than I realize.  It tells me that my failures do not define me, but rather they help to make me into who I shall be.  Returning to the text, these unprepared and faltering disciples will soon be the leaders of the most explosively growing movement of God the world has ever seen.  They will all meet their defining moments with heroic faith and it is at least in part, because of the trial they will endure over the next three days.  They will lose their Leader, than receive Him back from death.  They will experience complete and utter powerlessness to stop the crucifixion, and then hide away in terror that they might be next.  They will struggle to believe their own eyes when the resurrected Christ stands before them even though Christ told them perhaps a hundred times that it would happen.  But somehow, going through all that prepares them to discover who they really are and what the rest of their lives will be about.  Their embarrassing failures form part of the foundation for their eventual success.  If this is true, then there is hope for all of us who are surprised by our own failures.   

 

Question: How have past failures prepared you for success? 

 

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, thank you for showing us what  complete and utter obedience looks like even though we often seem incapable of emulating it.  Help us learn from our shortcomings and keep our eyes on you.  Strengthen us from within and without. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for closest friends today that they will receive just what they need right now.

 

Song:  Gethsemane – Claire Ryan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWIx24J00Wc

What WE Would Do Given the Same Situation. . .

What WE Would Do Given the Same Situation. . .

 

Matthew 26:31-35, The Message - Then Jesus told them, “Before the night’s over, you’re going to fall to pieces because of what happens to me. There is a Scripture that says,

I’ll strike the shepherd;

dazed and confused, the sheep will be scattered.

But after I am raised up, I, your Shepherd, will go ahead of you, leading the way to Galilee.”

Peter broke in, “Even if everyone else falls to pieces on account of you, I won’t.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Jesus said. “This very night, before the rooster crows up the dawn, you will deny me three times.”

Peter protested, “Even if I had to die with you, I would never deny you.” All the others said the same thing.

 

                Up until right before it happens, Jesus keeps telling the disciples how things are going to go badly for Him.  And our passage above, Jesus warns his disciples that, when things go badly, they won’t handle it very well.  They will “fall to pieces.”  Peter speaks for all of Jesus’s cohorts when he boasts there is no way that would ever happen.  But just as Jesus foretold, Peter will deny Jesus three times before the night is over. All the others would falter in some way as well.  Though it is Peter that is the example, this prediction from Jesus is one that is about all of us.

                Unlike Peter, I doubt that I would have made a verbal boast about what I would do or not do.  But I am certain, in the same circumstances, I would have quietly assured myself that I would never deny or forsake Jesus though all hell breaks loose.  I believe my approach would have been to quietly prove Jesus’s words to be wrong.  My aim would be to simply show Jesus my undying loyalty.  But I’m pretty sure that I, just like all the confident disciples, would fail to prove my unspoken boast.  I’m certain about this because I have failed Jesus many times when I faced no real danger for being faithful. 

                However, this passage is not about Peter’s denial or the failings of all the other disciples in the midst of the arrest, crucifixion, and death of Jesus.  Jesus lets them know that they will fall to pieces not to shame them, but to assure them, that when it happens, He will be there to lead them forward after their failure.  The reality is that all of the disciples, except John, will go on to be martyred for their bold faith in Jesus.  But not before they first fail Jesus.  The encounter with the Risen Christ turns their failure into faithfulness.  The gift of the Holy Spirit turns their fear into holy bravado. 

                We all know what we think we will do when the “big moment” comes.  Bur regardless of whether we fail or succeed, Jesus promises to lead us forward afterwards.  Jesus knows that we will fall short sometimes.  We might even completely fall apart.  But on the other side of those darkest of moments, our Shepherd will be there to help us pick up the pieces and move forward to a better future. 

 

Questions:  Can you think of times when you didn’t live up to your own expectations about how you would perform in a difficult situation?  What was helpful to you in such moments?

 

Prayer:  Jesus, we sometimes overestimate our loyalty and devotion to You.  Thank you for your promise to be with us when we fail.  Use our failures and shortcomings to strengthen our faithfulness moving forward.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people in places where Christians are martyred for their faith on a regular basis.

 

Song:  Are Ye Able – Han Sol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG8b0J7gnLw