A WORD FOR TODAY, April 2, 2021
Peggy Hoppes
We pray you have been blessed by this daily devotion. If you received it from a friend, you can see other devotions and studies by visiting our website at www.awordfortoday.org.
Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, April 2, 2021
“My praise of you comes in the great assembly. I will pay my vows before those who fear him. The humble shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise Yahweh who seek after him. Let your hearts live forever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Yahweh. All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you. For the kingdom is Yahweh’s. He is the ruler over the nations. All the rich ones of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him, even he who can’t keep his soul alive. Posterity shall serve him. Future generations shall be told about the Lord. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born, for he has done it.” Psalm 22:25-31, WEB
I wrote about the events surrounding the last Thursday of Jesus’ life and encouraged joy because the meal past and present is one of celebration. Yet, we know that the events of Maundy Thursday included some solemn and even disturbing moments. Jesus told Peter he’d deny Him. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, which was a sacred moment that probably induced some uncomfortable nervous laughter. His talk of death would not have been happy news. Jesus sent Judas to do what he had to do. Despite these moments, the disciples left the Upper Room and headed to the garden with Jesus satisfied from the food and drink, ready to finish the night with pleasant rest.
The night wasn’t over, though. Jesus still had to face the most difficult hours of His life. Though the events in the garden begin on Thursday after the meal, they belong to Good Friday. What a strange name for the day our Lord was put to death.
It had been approximately thirty-three years since the birth of our Savior. For the last three years, he shared the Kingdom of God. During that time he did many incredible things. He healed the sick, cast out demons and fed thousands. He even raised the dead. He preached a new truth to the people, that God is merciful, full of forgiveness and love. He also taught that following Him would not be easy, that He demands much from our lives.
Jesus went to the garden to pray while Judas went to the Temple to betray Jesus. The disciples were so content that they fell asleep even though Jesus asked them to watch. It was not unusual for Jesus to pray, and it was not unusual for those times of prayer to last hours. They didn’t realize that during those prayers Jesus was fighting the greatest spiritual battle of His life. He was fighting the devil. He was fighting for our lives. The man Jesus could still have said “NO!” but He remained without sin. He rejected the temptation and willingly finished the work His Father sent Him to do.
After He spent time in prayer, everything moved very fast. Judas came with a crowd of people and betrayed his friend by identifying Him with a kiss. Peter tried to stop the event from continuing by swinging his sword. A guard was injured by Jesus healed the wound. The will of God would not be hindered by the desires of men. Jesus appeared before Caiaphas, the chief priest, so that the Sanhedrin could find some crime worthy of death. By Roman law, the Jews could not put a man to death. They found him guilty of blasphemy.
The disciples scattered. They hid in the crowds, trying to see each moment, but afraid of being discovered. Peter warmed himself over a fire, trying to fit in to the crowd. Three people approached him and claimed they had seen him with Jesus. Three times, Peter denied knowing him, just as Jesus said. After the final denial, a rooster crowed and Jesus looked directly at Peter. Peter wept bitterly because he knew that Jesus had been right. He couldn’t do as he boasted he would do.
Jesus was taken before Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate could find nothing against Rome that would be punishable by the death penalty. When Pilate discovered Jesus was from Galilee, he sent him to be tried by Herod. Pilate was anxious to be rid of this problem. His wife has seen in a dream that Pilate would be blamed for the death of this innocent man. Leaders from the temple were scattered in the crowd that watched the proceedings. He was taken to Herod who was quite excited about seeing Jesus face to face. He’d heard so much about the man; he wanted to see some mighty miracle performed before him. When Jesus would not prove himself, Herod humiliated Him and sent Him back to Pilate.
Pilate did not see reason for death, so he took the question to the crowd. Someone yelled, “Crucify him!” The crowd that was yelling, “Hosanna” just days before were so agitated by Jesus’ actions in the past few days, they easily fell to the temptation of anger, fear and violence. They yelled, “Crucify him!” The final betrayal came when the people said, “We have no king but Caesar.” They showed Jesus that they did not even look to the Lord God Almighty as their King. Pilate had no choice but to send Jesus to the cross.
Through all this, Jesus was humiliated, beaten and stripped of everything. They took His clothes and His dignity. They forced a cross onto His already sore and bleeding back and pushed Him on to Golgotha. As He walked His final footsteps on this earth, He faced the women who were weeping over His fate. He told them to weep for themselves, because the time would come when they would face great suffering.
He had great difficulty carrying the cross, falling under the heavy burden. A man, Simon, was ordered to carry it for Him. Other prisoners were taken with Him to the hill, each sentenced to die for their crime. One thief begged Jesus to save them, but the other humbled Himself in repentance and accepted responsibility for the wrongs he had done. Jesus welcomed him to His kingdom. He saw His mother and the one disciple who stayed near. He gave Mary to John to care for the rest of her life, seeing to her welfare, even in the midst of His pain. The soldiers mocked Jesus and tried to serve Him a poison that would bring death more quickly, but Jesus refused. He would control every moment. As Max Lucado so eloquently states, “He chose the nails.”
At the end of our Maundy Thursday service, we stripped the altar of all paraphernalia while Psalm 22 was read. On the cross Jesus quoted this Psalm when He said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The imagery of the Passion is found in this psalm. He is forsaken. He is scorned and mocked. He thirsts. He is surrounded by ruthless people. His hands and feet are pierced. His garments are divided and lots are cast for his clothing. As we read Psalm 22, we see the suffering of Jesus. The psalm also shows us, however, that the afflicted one is not forsaken. God has not hidden his face from him; God has heard his cry. Affliction is not the end of the story. The suffering one will eat and be satisfied. We’ll have to wait three days to see this promise fulfilled.
Affliction leads to deliverance. Jesus knew, despite the cry of abandonment on the cross, that God can be trusted. God is faithful. One day the whole world will join in worship of Him. Psalm 22 gives us a vivid portrait of affliction, alludes to the resurrection and then closes with a future-facing kingdom reign. Jesus fulfills in the Gospels everything we see in the psalm.
While Good Friday should never be a day of celebration, it is a day filled with hope because of God’s promises. We know the end of the story because we are Easter people. But Jesus may have given some comfort to those who were struggling with His death by pointing them toward the words of the Shepherd Psalm Trilogy (Psalms 22-24). “I am suffering right now (Psalm 22), but after you walk through the valley of the shadow of death during these three days (Psalm 23), I promise that I will be there waiting for you in victory (Psalm 24). I will deliver you from sin and death and you will live with me in my eternal kingdom forever.” This is our hope and it is in His Word we can find peace.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org.
|