Lent Reflection, Holy Saturday

While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Luke 2:6-7

Additional Reading: John 19:38-42

Perhaps there has never been room for Jesus. At his birth, he lies in a borrowed animal manger – a feeding trough. In his death, he lies in a borrowed tomb. For the borrowed manger, the owner is certain he will get it back for his animals. For the borrowed tomb, I wonder if Joseph of Arimathea saw with eyes of faith that he would bet his tomb back. But in either case, there was no room for Jesus.

Nowhere in Scripture is this truth of “no room for Jesus” a cause of pity. The lack of room for Jesus is consistent with his coming. He didn’t come to stay. He came to seek and save that which was lost: you and me. He was not meant for life forever on this earth. And neither are you and I.

It is Holy Saturday, and the day is gilded with sorrows. But beneath the gloom there is the sound of eternal life stirring in the bosom of the earth! We are silent this day. We are listening hard for the sound that banishes the darkness forever. We are waiting on the word that says our sorrow is over, forever. Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus. We will make room for you!

Prayer: Kind Father, let the day be soon! Let your Son rise again and call us home to himself. Let Easter break anew for us as it has never broken before!!

Lent Reflection, Good Friday

Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.
Luke 23:46

Additional Reading: John 15:9-17

The last words of a dying man.

But wait. There’s something else here, easy to overlook, a hidden wonder. With Hebrew ears we listen in on the rasping voice of this dying man. And we hear, “Father, daddy, into your hands, here is my life, my ruah, my breath.” And he breathed it out. And that was it.

In the beginning, God breathed into humanity and there was life. In Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones, the breath fills the bones and makes them live. And after the resurrection, Jesus tells his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Spirit, the “wind,” comes. The breath of God. The very life of the Almighty that would fill those who follow him. The power of every sermon he preached, every parable, every word of healing and friendship, the very substance of the life he lived is in this breath. And here, in this greatest act of love and obedience, he surrenders that breath.

Imagine! This is God, come to tell of everlasting life, the life we should have, could have. So he lives that life in front of all. And then, he gives it up. He dies.

We’ve heard of special endings before. Enoch walked with God and then he was no more. God just says, “You’re so close, why not just come on over to this side.” Moses, who had seen him face to face, died at the Lord’s command, and was buried in a hidden place, hidden away with the Lord. Elijah is caught up into the air in grand, fiery display. But this … this is different altogether.

“This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” This is the intimate exchange between the Father and the Son, the most holy and heartbreaking. For all the times he had tried to explain his relationship to the Father: “I and the Father are one … I can do only what I see the Father doing … Did you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” This is how close he is to the Father in heaven. As close as his breath.

Prayer: Kind Father, I am humbled in the presence of this. I want to hold the dying body of Jesus, his fragile form slumped in my arms – to draw his face close to mine in this last groaning, feel this final breath on my face, and with him breathe the prayer: “Into your hands I commit my life.” Amen.

Lent Reflection, Day 38, April 13

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.
John 19:28-29

Additional Reading: Psalm 71:1-24

The Scripture being fulfilled is Psalm 69:21, “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.” But the dying Christ is not seeking pity here. He’s simply preparing to give himself into the Father’s loving arms. He wants to say something – to announce his departure. He wants to declare his victory in the battle over the sins of humanity that placed him on this cruel cross.

But he has no voice left. The day of his suffering has stolen it from him. His mouth is so dry that he cannot speak. He cannot muster the voice that called back Lazarus from the dad to speak now and declare that the battle over sin and death’s dominion is over. So between the panting of his final breaths, the pain of hoisting himself up one more time to find the air to force the words out, he cries, “I am thirsty.”

God would have us know that when Jesus says he’s thirsty, the he is one of us. He is thirsty. His humanness is in full view here in this moment. And as one who thirsted, He knows the many thirsts of our lives, the dry yearning of our hearts, the parched longing to have those thirsts quenched as only he can quench them.

Love. I am thirsty. Acceptance. I am thirsty. Forgiveness. I am thirsty. Hope … Meaning … the end of my Loneliness. I am thirsty. Jesus hears. Jesus knows. He’s been there. And he wants to announce to the victory that is yours in him.

Prayer: Lord, my soul thirsts for you in a dry and weary land. I confess my need of the One who said, “If anyone is thirsty, let them come to me and drink.” Lord Jesus, I come. Release within me that stream of Living Water. Amen.

Lent Reflection, Day 37, April 12

At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.
John 19:41

Additional Reading: John 19:38-42

Recently, I read a book entitled Velvet Elvis, by Rob Bell. In one portion of this book, he talks about how significant it is that Jesus’ body was put in a tomb in a garden. I had overlooked in the past this detail about the tomb and had not ever recognized its importance. Until recently.

There’s another garden we remember very easily from the Bible. The Garden of Eden and the events that took place there are well known. Genesis 2:8 says, “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the man he had formed.” In this garden, the first man, Adam, had a close relationship with God and nothing stood between them. When Adam sinned, God’s punishment for him and Eve was both serious and symbolic. Among other consequences, God threw them out of the garden, and this physical separation symbolized the spiritual separation between humanity and God that would continue for generations.

1 Peter 1:20 says, “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” What happened in the garden was the reason Jesus had to come. God knew before he breathed life into Adam that He would be sending His Son to pay the price for Adam’s sins – and yours’ and mine. None of this was a mistake or a shock to God. God created humans, put them in a garden, and they so quickly wandered from the innocence they were created in. God sent Jesus to suffer and die for us, even planning that His body be laid and later raised from a tomb in a garden.

Can you picture in your mind the garden where sin entered the world? Picture in your mind Adam and Eve disobeying God by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and imagine God’s sadness when He banished them from the garden and from Himself. Now picture Jesus’ body, after being beaten and crucified, laid in a tomb in a garden. Imagine that as Jesus was being brought into the garden, God was bringing Adam and Eve - and you and me - back into the garden as well.


* Spend a moment today meditating on what God did for us by sending Jesus. Take a minute to stop and realize what your life would be like if a way had not been made for you to be in a relationship with God personally. Thank God that the story did not end in the “first garden,” with Adam’s sin and punishment, but that God had a “second garden” in store for us, the gracious ending accomplished by His Son.

Lent Reflection, Day 36, April 11

The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again…
John 10:17-18

Additional Reading: Acts 2:23-24, Matthew 26:47-56

Last year at this time, a few days before Easter, I finally saw the movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” It was hard to watch, but it had a terrific effect on me in two specific ways. One, it made me fall even deeper in love with Jesus. Two, it showed me a visual image of the strength Jesus had, the power He withheld in every moment of the questioning, humiliation, and crucifixion He endured. In the middle of the ugliness, He was beautiful.

It blew me away when I heard that people were criticizing the producer of this movie, accusing him of blaming Jesus’ death specifically on the Jews. I don’t know anything about the opinions and beliefs of this producer, but I know this: No one, Jew or Gentile, took Jesus’ life from Him. He gave it willingly.

Sometimes we see pictures of a sad, weak, pale-faced Jesus who looks so sorry that these evil people chose to kill him. But the fact is, Jesus never stopped being a King, never stopped being the Creator of the Universe, and never stopped being the Man who healed the sick and raised the dead. He gained the weakness of being human but never lost the power of being God. Every move He made was made with the authority given to Him by His Father, and They were one. They could have at any time called on angels to rescue Jesus, and as Jesus said in John 19:11, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”

Isaiah 53:7 describes Jesus as a Lamb, the sacrificial and perfect Lamb who was silent as He was led to the slaughter. Yes, this Lamb is our Jesus, because He was in perfect submission to His Father as He gave His life for us. But He is also, and forever will be, the Lion of Judah reigning in power and majesty. I really enjoyed seeing the movie, “The Chronicles of Narnia.” The story by C.S. Lewis depicts Jesus as the lion named Aslan. Aslan gave me another visual image of the strength and restraint Jesus had. There was a specific time for His suffering and withholding of power, and there was a specific time for His glory and authority to be revealed.

I’ve heard it said that it was not nails that held Jesus to the cross; it was His love for us. I believe that with all of my heart.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for being the Lamb that was slain in my place. I want to fully grasp what You did for me in Your humility and sacrifice. And Lord, thank You for being the Lion who reigns, who is in control, and who is mighty to save.