The Cloud of Unknowing

John 19:38-47

For a time on Friday, the sky was so overcast and dark that travelers around the city of Jerusalem were frightened by its darkness.  Even old timers could not remember such a day.  It was like no other they could recall.  It was as if God were blocking out the sight that was unfolding on Golgotha.  His very own Son, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, was dying for the sins of the world.  But Moses knew of such a day.  It happened for him on Mount Sinai when God was giving him the Law.  It was when God drew near and with a finger etched in stone the Ten Commandments.  Could it be that God was drawing near once again?  This was the moment of Redemption.  This was the moment of the triumphal action of the Triune God.

A Word from the Cross

GOOD FRIDAY

Luke 23:34

For some 2,000 years the Christian Church has referred to this day as Good Friday.  Good is not the word for it.  From our point of view it is super colossal, and more.  How can words describe it.  It is the day our redemption was secured by His dying in our place.  But from His point of view, it was the day of life’s bitterest betrayal, a day that drained the joys of Heaven and spilled them at the foot of His Cross.  This is the day God wept as never before.

Washing Feet

John 13:1-17

In Jesus’ day there were two times when a man might expect someone to wash his feet.  One is when he is a child and the other is when he dies.  Parents bathe their children until they are able to bathe themselves.   Then when a person dies the body is completely bathed in preparation for burial.  Soon the feet of Jesus will be prepared by Joseph of Aramathea and Nicodemus, a secret disciple.

The Anointing at Bethany

John 12:1-11

Few in the whole Jerusalem area knew Jesus as did Martha, Mary and their brother Lazarus.  He has been a frequent guest in their home, and when things started heating up for Him in Jerusalem due to the opposition of the religious leaders, their home was His only real refuge.  The relationship between them was cemented when Lazarus died as found in John 11, and at the same time they came to know His heart for them. They saw His weeping when He experienced their pain in the loss of their brother.  In two days they would weep openly for Him as He embraced His Cross for their benefit.  There was something about Him that Mary could detect.  She needed to express to Him more than mere words could ever say.

A Cross

John 3:14-17

In Philippians 2, Paul states that Christ was not afraid of death, even if it meant dying on a cruel Cross.  Not only is that what Jesus will do, but He is willing to embrace it and all it represents.  The Old Testament points out that “cursed is anyone who is hung on a tree.”  Not only is crucifixion the worst form of punishment and one of the slowest and most agonizing forms of dying, but it bears a forever stigma with it.  It’s like a family having to deal with the fact a family member was executed  for a heinous crime.  There’s no hiding it from society.

The Son of Man Must Die

PASSION WEEK

John 11:45-53

Chapter 11 begins with the raising of Lazarus and the Son of Man doing for another what He cannot accomplish for Himself.  Lazarus is breathing, walking around, and praising the Father for a victory over his grave where he had lain for four days.  The One who brought him back to life is none other that the One who says “I am the resurrection and the life, he that believes in Me shall never die.”  But now He shares with His disciples the reality that they are plotting against Him and soon He will be offered up as The Sacrifice for the sins of all humanity.  To His disciples the thought of Him dying is the last thing they want to hear.  He is going to usher in His Kingdom and how do you accomplish that from the grave.

And Can It Be That I Should Gain

THE ATONING CHRIST | SIXTH SUNDAY IN LENT

John 1:29-34

And can it be that I should gain, An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Dies He for me, who caused His pain?  For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

You Alone Have the Word…

John 6:66-69

For over a hundred years, theologians and Bible scholars from certain circles have been seeking for the “historical Jesus.”  By this, they mean that since they cannot accept the Jesus of the New Testament and the One of historic Christian Theology, they have to come up with a more modern one.  After all, the contemporary scientific mind does not accept miracles, incarnation, and resurrection, so they sense the need to reinvent Jesus and incorporate Him into that thinking.  So they come up with a Jesus that looks exactly like what they imagine, and not surprisingly, He ends up looking more like themselves.  So today many of these scholars talk about God but Jesus is slowly becoming more and more conspicuous by His absence.

Following His Example

Philippians 2:5-13

The compelling Jesus Christ gave us two commands along with lots of solid teaching about life in the Kingdom of God that proves God’s love for His entire world.  The first command is the Love Commandment: We are to love God with all our being and to love others as we love ourselves.  The second is the Great Commission: to go into all the world and make disciples in His Name.  But in addition to these, He also states that as the Father sent Him, so He sends us to serve Him as an extension of His own Incarnation.  Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4 that we are to grow up into Him in love, thus fulfilling the law of Christ which is a law of loving in His Name.

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

John 14:1-6

How can Love be anything but the way and power to live, the truth of all that really matters, and  the highest life possible within God’s creation?   Jesus was telling the truth, He was exampling the life, and showing us that all who are in Him now know the way to God.  Herein lies the abundant life He promised all who are willing to believe in His Name.  By simply believing in Him we have it all.