“Lent is a time of
prayer, fasting, and examining of conscience…a time to reflect on God's love
and mercy and a time to allow God to help us grow in our relationship with
him,” wrote Sharon Espeseth. Read her blog here.
Our
bloggers this month reflect on Lent, and the death and resurrection of Christ.
Jesus’
Passion Revealed
Each Lent I read the Gospels
and reflect on Jesus’ life and death. This year I wrote several
mini-meditations on Jesus’ sacrifice, based on my visit to Israel five years
ago.
The
Last Supper
“For whenever
you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he
comes.” 1 Corinthians 11:26
My visit
to the Upper Room where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples was
the most profound experience of my trip to Israel. As our tour group sang,
“Amazing Grace,” I visualized Jesus walking into Jerusalem, passing the Temple
that was now quiet from the afternoon sacrifice of Passover lambs. Only He knew
that within twenty-four hours He would be The
Passover Lamb, sacrificed to take away the sins of the world.
Let us
enter into the mystery of His New Covenant. “I’m eager to eat this
dinner with you,” He told His disciples.
Jesus knew His hour had come. After
He dismissed Judas to betray Him, He and the eleven disciples drank from the
cup to commemorate how God delivered His people from Egypt.
Now Jesus added the symbols of
a New Covenant—His body broken and His blood poured out for them. “Do this in
remembrance of Me,” He said.
Let
us confess and turn to Jesus as we participate in Holy
Communion. Let us be faithful to our calling as believers.
Garden
of Gethsemane
“Father…take
this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42
As our
tour group walked through Gethsemane, a garden filled with olive trees, I
couldn’t help but catch the symbolism of the place. For “Gethsemane” means “olive press”, and here
olives underwent great pressure to squeeze out the precious oil.
Come
into the Garden. Enter into Jesus’ suffering. “No, Father! Not that!” Jesus cried out, as He faced the sheer terror of the next hours. “Is there
another way out? Another way You can accomplish salvation for Your people?”
His body and spirit felt great
pressure like that of an olive press, a weight so heavy that He came near death.
Finally Jesus surrendered and said, “Not My will, but Yours.”
But the disciples slept,
totally oblivious to Jesus’ cries, totally oblivious to the angel who
strengthened Him, totally oblivious to what Jesus was going through.
Let us
confess our spirit of sleeping when we don’t grasp the price Jesus
paid to take our sin and the sins of our loved ones.
Church
of St. Peter in Gallicantu
“This very night, before the rooster crows, you
will diswn me three times.” Matthew 26:34
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| "I know Him not!" |
We drove to the beautiful Church of St. Peter
in Gallicantu, the traditional site of Caiaphas’ Palace where Jesus was held
after His arrest.
At Gallicantu, which in Latin means “The
rooster crows”, Peter denied knowing Jesus not once, not twice, but three
times. And then, as the rooster crowed, Peter caught sight of Jesus, gazing
deeply into his eyes.
Come,
follow Peter. Tears rolled down Peter’s cheeks. He loved
Jesus. Oh, how he loved Him! But now—what had he done? Wave after wave of his
failure rushed over him. Earlier tonight he had boasted he would never desert
Jesus.
What did his blustering mean
now? He stumbled toward a hidden corner
of the courtyard. Deep sobs wrenched his body.
Peter didn’t know it at the
time, but his bitter tears were his first redemptive steps back to Jesus.
Let us
confess: When Jesus looks deep into our hearts, we realize how we have
denied Him. But Jesus’ love brings us back to repentance and a right relationship
with Him.
Via
Dolorosa
“Carrying
his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull.” John 19:17
We walked the Via Dolorosa, the street which
Jesus took on His route to the cross. For us, the atmosphere was festive with
shoppers and tourists. Aromas wafted from the food stalls. Middle Eastern music
floated through the air. But Jesus’ walk was not festive. He had been condemned
in a mock trial, flogged, and sentenced to die by crucifixion.
Come.
Walk with Jesus. Shoppers joined the jeering crowds as a criminal
stumbled past, carrying his cross. He looked a caricature of a king in His
blood- stained robe. A group of women—and the disciple John—followed, all weeping. The
criminal stumbled, then fell. The Roman soldiers grabbed a strong African and
ordered him to carry the man’s cross.
Consider
how Jesus carried our cross for us. Let us thank Him and ask Him to
help us understand deeply how He suffered as He took punishment for our sins.
The
Crucifixion
“And so
Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his
own blood.” Hebrews 13:25
We
entered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and climbed the steep stairs to the Rock
of Calvary which commemorates Jesus’ crucifixion.
A year
later I attended the Passion Play in the Badlands of Alberta, a more natural
setting of the crosses. There, I meditated on Calvary and Jesus’ anguish and
victory on the cross.
Come
close to the cross. See how He suffered. At noon darkness fell
over the land. Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” For
three hours of darkness He endured God’s wrath, taking on the sins of the whole
world.
At three o’clock, He cried out,
“Father, forgive them…” And then, gathering His last strength, He cried out,
“It! Is! Finished!”
It was a victory cry.
He died at the exact hour of
the afternoon sacrifice. An earthquake shook the land. In the Temple, a great ripping
noise changed everything. The curtain was torn from top to bottom, exposing the
Most Holy Place.
Let
us confess Christ’s finished work of salvation. Let us thank Him that we can now approach our
Holy God without a High Priest
sacrificing for us. Let us thank Christ that He has become our Great High
Priest.
Christ's Resurrection
“He is
not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”
Matthew 28:6
Our last visit to remember Jesus was
to The Garden Tomb, near an old
limestone quarry that has a rock formation that looks like a skull.
As our tour group entered the Garden,
I felt deeply its calmness and serenity. After our communion service, I walked
into the tomb and thought of that first resurrection morning when the angel
told the women, “He is not here, but He is risen.”
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| The Garden Tomb |
Come close. Enter the empty tomb. View
the other side of death. When Christ was first raised, He left the grave clothes behind and folded
the head cloth in a very meditated action.
Folding the napkin was very symbolic
for Jews. When the dinner host got up from the table to attend to a task, he
neatly folded the napkin to show the servants that he would be back.
Let us celebrate the Risen Christ. Let us thank God for
His triumph in raising Christ from the dead. Let us claim His resurrection power
for our daily living. And let us thank Jesus that one day He will come back for
us.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came among them and said, “Peace be with you!” John 20:19
Although scripture does not name the room where the disciples were hiding that day, bible scholars think it may have been the room upstairs where they stayed before (Act 1:13) and reference it as the Upper Room.
