Yes, it is Monday and my blog is early. But this is no ordinary week. This is the week leading up to Easter. This is Holy Week and Sunday’s coming!
If you look up ahead, you can see the crowds waving their palm branches, shouting “Hosanna, Hosanna!” Look a little further and you will see Sunday where we will gather at the tomb and rejoice that Christ the Lord has risen! There is hope in looking ahead. The temptation, though, is to rush ahead. If we do, we move right passed these important days and miss the gift of this Holy week.
There is so much pain and suffering leading up to the greatest event of our Christian faith. Often I try to avoid the uncomfortable. However, it is in the pain that we experience the truth of Jesus, what he was willing to do for us. Let’s linger through these days, reflecting on the scriptures, envisioning Jesus, the events and the crowds. Jesus set his face for Jerusalem and willingly walked the painful path that ultimately lead to his death.
Let’s gaze upon his painful sacrifice and try to understand what it is that Christ actually did for us. You may want to look away. Don’t. Together, let’s join hand in hand and move through this week at a slower pace, with our only intention of trying to understand what Christ did for us.
Pause – Reflect – Pray
Holy God, open our eyes so that we might see exactly what Jesus did for us so long ago and it still doing for us today. Amen.
Monday
They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him. 33 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man[a] will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans.[b] 34 They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.”
How does it feel to know that Jesus goes ahead of you, back then on his way to the cross and today in the midst of this pandemic?
Pause – Reflect – Pray
Jesus, thank you that you go ahead of me in everything I do. Amen.
Tuesday
The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna[b] to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[c]
“Hosanna[d] in the highest heaven!”
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Have you ever asked yourself who Jesus is? Reflect on Jesus and his life.
Pause – Reflect – Pray
God Almighty, show me who Jesus is. Amen.
Wednesday
One day he was teaching the people in the Temple, proclaiming the Message. … Read the entire passage.
“Who do you say that I am?”
Who do you say Jesus is? Does your life reflect who Jesus is to you?
Pause – Reflect – Pray
Jesus, Son of God, who are you to me? Let your life be reflected in mine. Amen.
Thursday
“Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me…”
Have you ever betrayed Jesus in word or deed?
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
When was the last time you took communion and remembered? What does taking part of the Last Supper mean to you? Where are you at the table? Are you at the table?
Pause – Reflect – Pray
God of all that is, help me to remember that Christ willingly shed his blood for me. Forgive me when I betray Him. Forgive me when I forget. Amen.
Friday
Read Matthew 27
Where are you in this story? Are you watching and wondering, “Who is this Jesus?” Or are you going along with the crowd, chanting, “Crucify him.”
Have you ever been mocked? How did that feel? How do you think Jesus felt?
Find yourself in this story. Are you the man forced to carry the cross for Jesus? Maybe you are the rich man from Arimathea who prepares Jesus body and buries him. Or are you the Mary’s watching from a distance and then sitting and waiting outside the tomb?
Have you ever felt forsaken by God? Reflect on what that must have felt like for Jesus.
Pause – Reflect – Pray
God Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, remind me that you will never leave me nor forsake me, even when I feel as if you have. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Saturday
“Be still and know that I am God.”
Lamentations 3:26; “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
Psalm 62:5 ESV; For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
When Jesus took his last breath, the disciples began to wait? How does it feel to wait in silence when you don’t know the outcome? Can you be still today and wait as the disciples waited so long ago?
Pause – Reflect – Pray
Dear Lord, help us to quietly wait on you. Teach us how to trust you in all things. In Jesus name, Amen.
Sunday
When has Christ appeared to you? Did you recognize him? Did you know him? How does it feel to know that Jesus comes to you even in your doubts?
Isn’t it interesting that they did not recognized Jesus until he broke the bread? Has God ever opened your eyes to anything?
What can you do to celebrate the risen Lord today and every day here after?
Pause – Reflect – Pray
God-Jesus-Holy Spirit, come to us in the midst of our doubts. Open our eyes to who you really are. Help us to understand that we serve a risen Lord. In Jesus name, Amen. -M
