Approaching Easter - A Violent Death - From Timothy Keller

Jesus' death had to be a violent one. The writer of Hebrews says that "without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin" (Hebrews 9:22).

This is not a magical view of blood.

Rather, the term blood in the Bible means a life given or taken before its natural end.

A life given or taken is the most extreme gift or price that can be paid in this world.

Only by giving his life could Jesus have made the greatest possible payment for the debt of sin.

Jesus' death was not only a payment, however; it was also a demonstration.

James Edwards writes:

       The prediction of Jesus' passion conceals a great irony,
       for the suffering and death of the Son of Man will not
       come, as we would expect, at the hands of godless and
       wicked people...rather at the hands of "the elders, chief
       priests, and teachers of the law".....Jesus would not be
       lynched by an enraged mob or beaten to death in a criminal
       act. He will be arrested with official warrants, and tried
       and convicted by the world's legal jurisprudence -- the
       Jewish Sanhedrin and the Roman court.

The Jewish chief priests, teachers of the law, and,
of course, the Roman rulers should have been standing up for justice but instead conspired to commit an act of injustice by condemning Jesus to death.

The cross reveals the systems of the world to be corrupt, serving power and oppression  instead of justice and truth.

In condemning Jesus, the world was condemning itself.

Jesus' death demonstrates not only the bankruptcy of the world, but it also reveals the character of God and his kingdom.

Jesus' death was not a failure. By submitting to death as penalty, he broke its hold on him and on us.

When Jesus went to the cross and died for our sins, he won through losing; he achieved our forgiveness on the cross by turning the values of the world on their head. He did not "fight fire with fire."

He didn't come and raise an army in order to put down the latest corrupt regime.

He didn't take power; he gave it up -- and yet he triumphed.

The corrupt powers of his world have many tools to make people afraid, the worst one being death.

But since Jesus died and rose again from the dead, if you can find a way to approach Jesus and cling to him you know that death, the worst thing that can possible happen to you, is now the best thing.

Death will put you in God's arms and make you all you hoped to be.

And when death loses its sting, when death no longer has power over you because of what Jesus did on the cross, then you will be living a life of love and not a life of fear.

       -- From King's Cross, Chapter 9,
                                      by Timothy Keller



       When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable,
          and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is
          written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in
          victory.'

         "Where, O death, is your victory?
           Where, O death, is your sting?"

         The sting of death is sin...But thanks be to God! He gives
         us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
                                     --1 Corinthians 15:55-56

Preparing for Easter - Easter - Jerry Bridges - The Goats

[In the Old Testament, The Day of Atonement featured two goats - one to be sacrificed and its blood sprinkled on the mercy seat (the golden cover of the Ark of the Covenant) inside the Most Holy Place, and the other to be sent out into the wilderness to function as a living scapegoat.]

The First Goat

Put yourself in the shoes of a devout Jew on the Day of Atonement.

He sees the High Priest slay the first goat as a propitiatory sacrifice. He watches as the priest disappears into the Tent of Meeting, knowing he is going into the Most Holy Place to sprinkle the blood of the slain goat on and before the mercy seat.

He knows that only the High Priest is allowed to enter that room, and even then only once a year, and only with the blood of the sacrificial animal.

Very conscious that atonement for his sins is conditioned on God's acceptance of the High Priest's ministry, he waits with some anxiety for the High Priest to return.                 

The Second Goat

Finally, after sprinkling the  blood on the mercy seat, the High Priest comes out and, in view of all the people, lays his hand on the live goat's head and confesses over it all the sins of the people. (In this act he symbolically transfers their sins to the goat.)

All Israel hears his voice as he solemnly confesses, perhaps with weeping, all their wickedness and rebellion--all their sins.

Then those devout Jews watch as the goat is led away into the desert bearing their sins.

Two things were necessary for the scapegoat ritual to be meaningful to an individual Jew.

First, he must identify with the sins the High Priest is confessing. He must acknowledge them as his own personal sins, not just the sins of the nation as a whole.

Then he must by faith believe that the goat did indeed carry away those sins he acknowledged. He probably did not understand how a goat could carry away his sins, but he believed that God had ordained this rite, and that somehow his sins had been removed from the presence of God and were no longer counted against him.

His faith was not in the goat but in God, who had ordained the ritual of the goat....

    From The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges



The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ not only took away the guilt of our sin, but also removed our sins from us, as the Scriptures tell us:

   He does not treat us as our sins deserve or give us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:10-12


(Note: The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is celebrated in the fall of the year   -  The 10th day of the 7th month, as described in the Old Testament  -- see Numbers Chapter 29 for more information.)

Approaching Easter - Philip Yancey - Who was really in charge?

Normally we think of someone who dies a criminal death as a failure.

Yet the Apostle Paul would later reflect about Jesus, "Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."

What could he mean?

On one level I think of the individuals who in our own time disarm power. The racists sheriffs who locked Martin Luther King, Jr., in jail cells, The Soviets who deported Solzhenitsyn, the Czechs who imprisoned Vaclav Havel, the South Africans who imprisoned Nelson Mandela--all these thought they were solving a problem, yet instead all ended up unmasking their own violence and injustice.

Moral power can have a disarming effect.

When Jesus died, even a gruff Roman soldiers was moved to exclaim, "Surely this was the Son of God!"

He saw the contrast all too clearly between his brutish colleagues and their victim, who forgave them in a dying gasp.

The pale figure nailed to a crossbeam revealed the ruling powers of the world as false gods who broke their own lofty promises of piety and justice.

Religion, not irreligion, accused Jesus; the law, not lawlessness, had him executed.

By their rigged trials, their scourging, their violent opposition to Jesus, the political and religious authorities of that day exposed themselves for what they were - upholders of the status quo, defenders of their own power only.

Each assault on Jesus laid bare their own illegitimacy.

    -- From The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey


[But even at His final hours, Jesus, the Savior God, pursued His mission - "Today you shall be with Me in paradise," He told the dying thief, laying bare His own true legitimacy!]

It's All About Easter - Charles Spurgeon - Substitution

The foundation upon which our faith rests is this: that "in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19).

The great fact upon which genuine faith relies is that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us," (John 1:14) and that "Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18).

"Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

In one word, the great pillar of the Christian's hope is substitution.

The vicarious sacrifice of Christ for the guilty. Christ made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him....

If this foundation were removed, what could we do?

But it stands firm as the throne of God.

We know it; we rest on it; we rejoice in it; and our delight is to hold it, to meditate upon it, and to proclaim it, while we desire to be stirred and moved by gratitude for it in every part of our life and conversations.

In these days a direct attack is made upon the doctrine of the Atonement. Men cannot bear substitution. They gnash their teeth at the thought of the Lamb of God bearing the sin of man.

But we, who know by experience the preciousness of this truth, will proclaim it confidently and unceasingly and in defiance of them.

We will neither dilute it nor change it, nor desire to distort it in any shape or fashion.

It shall still be Christ, a positive substitute, bearing human guilt and suffering in the place of man.

We cannot, dare not give it up, for it is our life, and despite every controversy we affirm that "God's firm foundation stands."

    -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Pondering the meaning of Easter -- Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent in the Western Christian calendar.

It is occurs 46 days before Easter Sunday, making it a moveable feast, and can occur as early as February 4 and as late as March 10. (Easter Sunday comes on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox). 

Christ spent 40 days in the wilderness, fasting, enduring the temptations of Satan. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the observance of this time in Christ's life, and is marked by Christians with prayer and fasting.

Why is it called Ash Wednesday?

It gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of its adherents (in the shape of a cross) as a reminder and celebration of human mortality, and as a sign of mourning and repentance to God.

At most services, the Penitential Psalms are read, especially Psalm 51.

Traditionally, ashes used are gathered from the burning of the palms used in the celebration of Palm Sunday the year before.

Ashes were used in biblical times to express mourning, as we see often in the Bible, especially in regard to repentance for one's own sins. 

JOB - "...I...repent in dust and ashes.." (Job 42:6)

JEREMIAH - calls for repentance, "gird in sackcloth and roll in ashes" (Jeremiah 6:26)

DANIEL - "I turned to the LORD God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes"
(Daniel 9:3)

And there are many other examples.


When did the observance of Ash Wednesday begin?

We have clear evidence that it was celebrated around 960 AD. And by the 12th century we have evidence that people began burning the palm branches from the previous year's Palm Sunday for the ashes.

However you observe the day, it marks the period when we turn our hearts to the cross and the when we earnestly confess our sins and turn to Him for salvation, and receive the gift of freedom that God, in His grace, has offered us.

What is Lent?

Lent is the period this year from Ash Wednesday through Saturday night, March 26, during which Christians repent of their sins, pray and fast. They purposefully make changes in their lives.

The last week of Lent is called Holy Week, and we focus on those last days Christ was on earth before He was arrested and crucified.

The word Lent comes from an old Latin word meaning lengthen, referring to the longer hours of daylight indicating the coming of spring.

What about the days?

There are more than 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter and yet we refer to the 40 days of Lent ?-- here's the deal about that: We don't count Sundays, because each Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection, so in getting the total of 40 days, we count only Monday through Saturdays.

   Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;

   according to your great compassion

   blot out my transgressions...

Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you are proved right

when you speak

and justified when you judge...

Create in me a pure heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence...

Restore to me the joy of your salvation...

--Psalm 51

Approaching Easter - The Historic Symbol of The Cross - Philip Yancey

It took time for the church to come to terms with the ignominy of the cross.

Church fathers forbade its depiction in art until the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine (280? - 337 AD) who had seen a vision of the cross and who also banned it as a method of execution.

Thus not until the fourth century did the cross become a symbol of the faith.

(As C. S. Lewis points out, the crucifixion did not become common in art until all who had seen a real one died off.)

Now, though, the symbol is everywhere: artists beat gold into the shape of a Roman execution device, baseball players cross themselves before batting, and candy confectioners even make chocolate crosses for the faithful to eat during Holy Week.

Strange as it it may seem, Christianity has become a religion of the cross -- the gallows, the electric chair, the gas chamber, in modern terms.

This, the power of the cross

Christ became sin for us

Took the blame, bore the wrath

We stand forgiven at the cross.

  -- Keith Getty

Preparing for Easter - Philip Yancey - Peter and Judas

From The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey


I know of no more poignant contrast between two human destinies than that of Peter and Judas.

Both assumed leadership within the group of Jesus' disciples. Both saw and heard wondrous things. Both went through the same dithery cycle of hope, fear, and disillusionment.

As the stakes increased, both denied their Master.

There, the similarity breaks off.

Judas, remorseful but apparently unrepentant, accepted the logical consequences of his deed, took his own life, and went down as the greatest traitor in history.

He died unwilling to receive what Jesus had come to offer him.

Peter, humiliated but still open to Jesus' message of grace and forgiveness, went on to lead a revival in Jerusalem and did not stop until he had reached Rome.

~~~~~~~~

One refused the gift Christ came to offer. The other

received gladly the gift.

Which choice have I made?

Looking to Easter - God's Not So Secret Rescue Mission

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was upon him

and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all....

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.

                                -- Isaiah 53

"Look, the Lamb of God,

who takes away the sin of the world."  

                              -- John 1:29

It is in the early pages of Genesis that we first learn of God's Rescue Mission (Genesis 3:15).

Then we learn of His continued plan - choosing Abraham to bring His light and message to the world....And through Abraham of all the nations on earth God chose one nation -- the people of Israel -- to help Him accomplish this mission.

Yet, just as men and women became slaves to spiritual darkness, God's chosen nation also found itself in bondage, held captive by a despotic kingin Egypt.

The Jews cried out to God to rescue them and he heard their cries.

As Moses wrote in the book of Exodus, God sent an Angel of Death to kill all the firstborn children in Egypt, to compel the wicked leader to free the Jews from their oppressors.

All the firstborn in every family would die!

There was only one way for a family to escape death: they must cover their doorframe with the blood of a sacrificed lamb.

"The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are," God tells His people, "and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt."

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus (the Stranger joining the two disciples) reveals that the Messiah, the Rescuer, would be like this "Passover lamb."

He was to be sacrificed to save others from the awful judgment of God.

These disciples had read and recited the words of Moses and the Prophets from childhood. They had never failed to observe the Passover meal, not once.

Yet somehow they had not understood the message about a Messiah who suffers for the sins of mankind in order to bring God's people everlasting freedom.

It seems impossible to believe: this figure of suffering is the Rescuer of Israel.

And the history of Israel is a story of preparation for his coming.

"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world' (John 1:29).

Approaching Easter - Clouds

Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?"

But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"

"I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
   -- Mark 14:60-62


This was a direct answer from Jesus to the question if he is the Christ, or the Messiah.

He answers "Yes, I am."

At other times in the Gospel of Mark Jesus avoided inquiries about His origin and His identity (Mark 7:5-6, Mark 11:29).

This time He answers directly and fully.


By saying, "I am," Jesus claims to be the Messiah, the promised one, and that He is God Himself.

The "I am" (the sacred Tetragrammaton -- the four consonants of the ancient Hebrew name for God, usually translated Jehovah or Yahweh -- was the Name of God considered to be too sacred to be spoken aloud, and so the Hebrews uttered the titles Adonai or Elohim in its place in the texts) directly connected Jesus to the God who spoke to Moses:

     Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to  them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' then what shall I tell them?"

     God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
       -- Exodus 3:13-14


But that is not all. 

Not only does Jesus apply the "I AM"  Name for God to Himself, He also amplifies His claim by identifying Himself as the Son of Man and also the one who will sit at the right hand of God.

There are two scriptural references here in Jesus' answer.

"Son of Man" comes from Daniel 7:13-14:

     In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven....He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations, and men of every language worshiped him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. 

"At his right hand" comes from Psalm 110:1: 

     The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."


In both of these pictures of the Messiah, He comes as a judge. 

Everyone hearing this exchange -- all the ruling council of the Sanhedrin -- knows who the Son of Man is.

In Daniel 7 the Son of Man comes from the throne of God to earth in clouds of heaven to judge the world.

The clouds of heaven are not the same as clouds of earth, which are water vapor. The clouds of heaven are the shekinah glory of God.

So Jesus is saying he will come to earth in the very glory of God and judge the entire world.

It's an astonishing statement. It's a claim to deity.

He could have said many other things to describe Himself and His mission, but he chose specifically to  say He is the final judge.

It forced the audience (and forces us) to see the paradox.

He, Jesus Christ, the supreme, eternal judge of the
entire world is standing there at that moment of history being judged by the world.

Everything is upside down. He should be the ruler and we should be in the dock, in chains, facing judgment and punishment.

With these words, Christ incites the leaders.

The high priest "tore his clothes."

"Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked.

"You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?"

They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said "Prophesy!"

And the guards took him and beat him (Mark 14: 63-65).


What do you think? Was Jesus a crank, or delusional, or the supreme con artist?

Or was (is)  Jesus Christ exactly who he claimed (claims) to be? 

 

Approaching Easter - The Women

As the cross approached, the role of women in the band of disciples became more prominent.

A woman anointed the Messiah as he approached the triumphal entry.

Women were faithful to the end at the cross.

They had the courage to follow Joseph of Arimathea
as he made his way to Pilate to request the body and on to the tomb.

Thereby the women knew where Jesus was buried.

On Saturday evening it was the women who ventured out to buy spices for the anointing of his body.

Sunday morning they made their way to the tomb, heard the glorious yet frightening word of the angels, overcame their fears and took the good news to the absent disciples

All week they displayed persistence and courage.

To them the church remains forever in debt.



 -- From Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, by
     Kenneth Bailey

~~~~~~~~~~~

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.

His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.

The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen, just as He said. Come and see where He lay and then go quickly and tell His disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.' There you will see Him. Now I have told you."   Matthew 28:1-7

Approaching Easter - His last Days - Philip Yancey

How Christ spent His last weeks on earth:

Holy Week - Crucifixion - Resurrection - 40 days - His ascension back to eternal glory


This excerpt is from Philip Yancey's message at the memorial service for victims of the Virginia Tech shootings -- April, 2007


We gather here as Christians, and as such aspire to follow One who came from God two thousand years ago.

Read through the Gospels and you'll find only one scene in which someone addresses Jesus directly as God: "My Lord and my God."

It was 'doubting Thomas,' the disciple stuck in sadness, the last holdout against believing the incredible news of the resurrection.

Jesus appeared to Thomas in His newly transformed body, obliterating Thomas' doubts.

What prompted that outburst of belief, however -- "My Lord and my God" -- was the presence of scars. Feel my hands, Jesus told him. Touch my side. Finger my scars.

In a flash of revelation Thomas saw the wonder of Almighty God, the Lord of the universe, stooping to take on our pain, to complete the union with humanity.

Not even God remained exempt from pain. God joined us and fully shared our human condition, including its distress. Thomas recognized in that pattern the most foundational truth of the universe: that God is love.

To love means to hurt, to grieve.

Pain manifests life.

It's All About Easter - Puritan Prayer

Resurrection

O God of my Exodus
Great was the joy of Israel's
   sons, when Egypt died upon the shore
Far greater the joy when the Redeemer's foe lay
   crushed in the dust.

Jesus rides forth as the victor, conqueror of death,
   hell, and all opposing might.

He bursts the bands of death, tramples the powers of
    darkness down, and lives forever.


Adorable Redeemer,
   thou who was lifted up upon a cross
   have ascended into heaven.

Thou, who as a man of sorrows, was crowned with
   thorns art now as Lord if life wreathed with glory.

Once, no shames more deep than thine,
   no agony more bitter, no death more cruel

Now, no exaltation more high, no life more glorious,
    no advocate more effective.
Thou art in the triumph car leading captive thine
    enemies behind thee

What more could be done than thou hast done!
    Thy death is my life, thy resurrection my peace
    thy ascension my hope, thy prayers my comfort

     From The Valley of Vision, a Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

It's All About Easter - What was in His cup?

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, that last night, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39).

Then He said to Peter, "Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"  (John 18:11).

The "cup" was heavy on His mind that night.

But what was in the cup?

Our first thought, is "the coming cross."

But there is more.

In both the Old and new Testaments, the cup of God refers to God's judgment.

In the hand of the LORD is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs (Psalm 75:8).

...you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD, the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs...(Isaiah 51:17)

See also Jeremiah 25:15, Habakkuk 2:16 and others.

"If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath... (Revelation 14:9)

Through out Scripture, the cup is a picture of the judgment of God, poured out of His wrath on sinful nations and people.

We don't like to talk about the wrath of God. We don't like to think of the reality of the eternal consequences for people who reject Christ.

We like to ignore it and concentrate on other aspects of eternity.

Jerry Bridges, in The Gospel for Real Life, says this:

...how are we to understand the wrath of God? God's wrath arises from His intense, settled hatred of all sin and is the tangible expression of His inflexible, determination to punish it. We might say God's wrath is His justice in action, rendering to everyone his just due, which, because of our sin, is always judgment.

All sin, no matter how small it might seem, is a challenge, an assault, to the sovereign authority of God. It is rebellion against God's authority. 

It was the cup we should have drunk, but Jesus as our representative, drank the cup of God's wrath in our place. He drained it to the last drop.

And He did it for us.

When He cried out "It is finished!" (a Greek word for paid in full) it was not a cry of relief, but a cry of victory.

He had accomplished what He came to do, to save His people from the wrath of God.

He didn't just ask God to 'sweep it under the rug, to 'overlook it this time.' He consumed it Himself.

...we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:3-5)

More from Jerry Bridges:

Herein is the glory of the cross. Justice and mercy are reconciled; wrath and love are both given full expression--and all of this so that we might experience the unsearchable riches of Christ!

Approaching Easter - Forsaken - Philip Yancey

"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"
(Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:33)


This time only, of all his prayers in the Gospels, Jesus used the formal, distant word "God" rather than "Abba," or "Father."  He was quoting from a psalm (22:1), of course, but he was also expressing a grave sense of estrangement. Some inconceivable split had opened up in the Godhead. The Son felt abandoned by the Father.

"The 'hiddenness' of God perhaps presses more painfully on those who are in another way nearest to Him, and therefore God Himself, made man, will of all men be by God the most forsaken," wrote C. S. Lewis.

No doubt he is right. It matters little if I am rebuffed by the checkout girl at the supermarket or even by a neighbor two blocks down the street.

But if my wife, with whom I've spent my entire adult life, suddenly cuts off all communication with me -- that matters.

No theologian can adequately explain the nature of what took place within the Trinity on that day at Calvary. All we have is a cry of pain from a child who felt forsaken.

Did it help that Jesus had anticipated that his mission on earth would include such a death?

What if no angel had appeared and Abraham had plunged a knife into the heart of his son, his only son, whom he loved? What then?

 Did it help Isaac to know his father Abraham was just following orders when he tied him to the altar?

That is what happened at Calvary, and to the Son it felt like abandonment.

We are not told what God the Father cried out at that moment. We can only imagine.

The Son "became a curse for us," said Paul in Galatians, and "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us," he wrote the Corinthians.

We know how God feels about sin; the sense of abandonment likely cut both ways.



Commentators have observed that the record in Matthew and Mark is one of the strongest proofs that we have an authentic account of what took place on Calvary. For what reason would the founders of a new religion put such disparaging words in the mouth of their dying hero--unless that's precisely what he said.


  -- From The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey

It's all about Easter - Mary's Choice

How Jesus spent his last weeks on earth:

Holy Week - Crucifixion - Resurrection - 40 days - His ascension back to eternal glory


Mary, Did You Know?


We see Mary, the mother of Jesus, at His cross.

Thirty-three years before, while she and Joseph were in the temple with baby Jesus, she had heard an enigmatic prophecy from an old, devout man named Simeon.

He had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he laid eyes on the God's Messiah.

"Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts." He saw the baby, took Him in his arms and praised God.

Then he turned to Mary, saying, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel...the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul, too."
(Luke 2)

Her own soul, too...a prophecy for both.

Faithful Jews realized from the "suffering servant" prophecies that the Messiah would be wounded.

Now Simeon was including Mary in the suffering of God's anointed One.

Mary's Choice

Now, thirty-three years later, she chose to stand at the foot of the cross, witnessing the cruel punishment of her Son, and she felt the sword that pierced Him, piercing her own body also.

She was not under arrest. She could have left. She
could not have saved Him. She would not have been able to convince the solders to take Him off that cross and release Him to her.

She had only two options - leave or stay there at His feet and witness His pain and suffering until the end.

She made the free choice to stand by and enter into His suffering and feel the sword pierce through her heart. A memory she would never be able to erase.

Against the scene of the basest brutality, she shines as a pure light of love. It was a cosmic contrast. Their hate and her love.

She made the choice to stay.

And so did He.

True to His purpose in coming to earth, "...who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame..." (Hebrews 12:2), He stayed on the cross.

Mary chose to enter into the pain and suffering of Jesus.

The Burden of Love

I heard a story once about a young couple who were expecting their first baby. Then they received the tragic news that the baby was not developing as he should -- his heart was not developed and he would surely die just after birth.

"Abort," the doctor declared.

But they refused. Knowing the baby would not live, they chose to go through with the pregnancy in hopes that they might have a few hours on this earth with their child before he would be gone from them.

The nurse, who shared this story with me, couldn't watch the couple. She couldn't bear it. Instead, she focused on the immediate needs of the newborn baby.

She watched his tiny fingers, grasping at the air and reaching for life, as new babies do. Then she saw his fingers become still, as he gave up his struggle and let go.

I am so moved by this story. The couple wanted to share in the suffering of their tiny beloved infant, no matter what the cost to them.

He would have felt pain in an abortion. And he would have been alone.


The cost of love. The burden of love.



Mary chose to enter into the pain and suffering of Jesus.

The cost of discipleship.

Quoteworthy....Chesterton on Thankfulness

Here dies another day
During which I have had eyes, ears, hands
And the great world around me;
And with  tomorrow begins another
Why am I allowed two?
    --G. K. Chesterton


[Why am I allowed 2?  3? 
a whole string a days ....?
a week? a month?...even years..?]


Days of grace... Why were we allowed any at all?
with color? and joyful music? with friends and family? with God's eternal bounty?
It's all about gratitude....

Quotes to Ponder

Winston Churchill:

A lie makes it halfway around the world while the truth is still putting its shoes on in the morning.


Robert Jastrow, the founder and director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and author of God and the Astronomers, reaches this conclusion when considering modern scientific research:

For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.

Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers



Samuel Adams, in a letter to his daughter, Hannah, in 1780:

If you carefully fulfill the various duties of life, from a principle of obedience to your heavenly Father, you shall enjoy that peace which the world cannot give nor take away...you cannot satisfy me so much as by seeking most earnestly the favor of Him who made and supports you--who will supply you with whatever His infinite wisdom sees best for you in the world, and above all, who has given us His Son to purchase for us the reward of eternal life.

Philip Yancey/C. S. Lewis

During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Some religions had accounts of return from death.

The debate went on for some time until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room. "What's all this rumpus about?" he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity's unique contribution among the world religions. Lewis responded, "Oh, that's easy. It's grace."

After some discussion, the conferees had to agree. The notion of God's love coming to us, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct of humanity. The Buddhist eight-fold path, the Hindu doctrine of karma, and Muslim code of law--each of these offers a way to earn approval. Only Christianity dares to make God's love unconditional.

From What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey