THE CROSS THE CROSS JOURNEY TO JOURNEY TO A 40-DAY GUIDE FOR FAMILY OR INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION A 40-DAY GUIDE FOR FAMILY OR INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION

Transcription

1 JOURNEY TO THE CROSS JOURNEY TO THE CROSS A 40-DAY GUIDE FOR FAMILY OR INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION A 40-DAY GUIDE FOR FAMILY OR INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION MARK GALLI THABITI ANYABWILE FLEMING RUTLEDGE WESLEY HILL RUTH PADILLA DEBORST DEREK RISHMAWY VANEETHA RENDALL RISNER KEN SHIGEMATSU AND MANY OTHERS

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3 JOURNEY TO THE CROSS INTRODUCTION The practice of preparing oneself for Easter stretches back to the earliest centuries of the church. Lent a 40-day observance (not including Sundays) has traditionally been a time of penitence and fasting, modeled after Jesus 40-day fast in the wilderness. Some Christians observe Lent while others don t, yet we find common ground in marking Palm Sunday, observing Good Friday, and celebrating Christ s resurrection on Easter Sunday. This resource is an invitation to journey toward the Cross and to consider God as we meet him there. What does the Cross reveal to us about who God is? How might we encounter God and come to know him more intimately through our contemplation of Christ s crucifixion and resurrection? HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE To use this devotional during Lent, start with Week 1 on Ash Wednesday (February 14). Then reflect on one reading each week throughout Lent. On Palm Sunday (March 25), begin the daily devotions for Holy Week, culminating in a final reading for Easter Sunday. Alternately, you can read these articles at your own pace during the weeks leading up to or following Easter. Each weekly reading in this guide is followed by Bible study and reflection questions for use during your personal time with God or for discussion in a small-group setting. Our Ideas for Families and Groups offer creative suggestions, fun projects, and discussion starters to enrich your spiritual growth as you draw near to the Cross together. KELLI B. TRUJILLO Editor 1

4 THE VINES EXPOSITORY BIBLE A Guided Journey Through the Scriptures with Pastor Jerry Vines Dr. Vines leads you on a journey through the Bible with insights and understandings selected from his lifetime of teaching ministry. This Bible provides a distinctive, passage-by-passage guide through every book of Scripture and reveals how each part applies to your life. Creative, practical, applicable, but never anything less than true to the actual text of Scripture... I love Dr. Vines and I'm so glad he s opened up his vault of knowledge for all of us. MIKE HUCKABEE... Only God knows how many believers in the coming years and decades will be built up and encouraged in the faith for having studied God s Word with this amazing tool. Read it and reap! DR. O. S. HAWKINS Former Pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas Author of the Joshua Code series To LEARN MORE and get FREE Downloads

5 I M M E R S E The Bible Reading Experience INVITE EVERYONE DISCOVER FOR YOURSELF GROW TOGETHER God s biggest intention for the Bible is to invite us into its Story. What God wants for us, more than anything else, is that we make the Bible s great drama of restoration and new life the story of our lives, too. The entire Bible divided into 6 volumes provides the framework for the Immerse experience. Each volume has been developed so it can be read according to an 8-week reading plan. The goal is for churches and other groups to read Immerse and then to come together each week to discuss what they ve read. Meetings should feel more like a book club, where people gather to discuss the reading, freely sharing thoughts and opinions, all centered on God s word. Ultimately, the goal is to encourage God s people to read through the entire Bible in a regular 3-year rhythm, leading to a lifetime of deep Scripture engagement. ImmerseBible.com CREATED IN ALLIANCE WITH TYNDALE, New Living Translation, NLT, the New Living Translation logo, and Tyndale s quill logo, are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

6 MARK GALLI THABITI ANYABWILE FLEMING RUTLEDGE WESLEY HILL RUTH PADILLA DEBORST DEREK RISHMAWY VANEETHA RENDALL RISNER KEN SHIGEMATSU AND MANY OTHERS JOURNEY TO A 40-DAY GUIDE FOR FAMILY OR INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION A 40-DAY GUIDE FOR FAMILY OR INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION JOURNEY TO THE CROSS A 40-Day Guide for Family or Individual Reflection JOURNEY TO THE THE CROSS CROSS Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked The Message are from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. PUBLISHER: Jacob Walsh EDITOR: Kelli B. Trujillo DESIGN: Michael Chuchvara MARKETING: Leanne Snavely, Marisa Tirado COPY EDITOR: Jenna DeWitt PRODUCTION: Cindy Cronk Copyright 2018 Christianity Today Published by Christianity Today 465 Gundersen Dr. Carol Stream, IL Printed in the U.S.A. ChristianityToday.com ChristianityToday.org All rights reserved. Cover photo by Levi Bare / Unsplash 4 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

7 JOURNEY TO THE CROSS CONTENTS HOLY WEEK 7 Bible Reading Guide WEEK 1 10 The Glory of the Cross Jeremy Treat WEEK 2 16 Love That Bears Our Burdens Mark Galli WEEK 3 22 The Wrath the World Needs Fleming Rutledge WEEK 4 28 God, Who Cannot Suffer, Suffered Wesley Hill WEEK 5 32 The Good News of God s Patience Derek Rishmawy WEEK 6 36 Jesus, Not Salvation, is God s Greatest Gift to Us Andrew Wilson PALM SUNDAY 42 The Coming of the King Philip Ryken HOLY MONDAY 44 He Is Our Peace Ruth Padilla Deborst HOLY TUESDAY 45 What s His Becomes Ours Sarah Hinlicky Wilson HOLY WEDNESDAY 46 He Humbled Himself Lynn H. Cohick MAUNDY THURSDAY 47 God of Mercy Thabiti M. Anyabwile GOOD FRIDAY 48 Jesus Cry of Vindication Al Hsu HOLY SATURDAY 50 Never Forsaken Vaneetha Rendall Risner EASTER SUNDAY 52 I Am the Resurrection Ken Shigematsu 56 Ideas for Families 58 Ideas for Groups 5

8 From the author of Change the World & Dare to Dream. Use your GOD-GIVEN GIFTS & TALENTS to become part of GOD S MIRACLES Did you know that when we hope for the impossible, it involves more than praying for God s transcendent power? There are two components to every miracle: divine action and human responsibility. Each of us has been given specific talents and abilities. For a real miracle to take place, God expects us to apply these talents and abilities acting with God to perform divine work. By examining biblical examples of how to use your God-given gifts for God s glory, author and pastor Mike Slaughter helps you discover that you, too, were Made for a Miracle. In addition to the book, the six-week study for groups or individuals includes a comprehensive Leader Guide, a DVD, and a Youth Study Book. Mike Slaughter is the lead pastor at Ginghamsburg Church. Under his leadership, Ginghamsburg Church has become known as an early innovator of small group ministry, the Church media reformation, and cyber-ministry. Mike is the author of multiple books for church leaders, including Down to Earth, The Passionate Church, Change the World, Dare to Dream, Renegade Gospel, A Different Kind of Christmas, Spiritual Entrepreneurs, Real Followers, Momentum for Life, UnLearning Church, and Upside Living in a Downside Economy. Learn more at

9 JOURNEY TO THE CROSS BIBLE READING GUIDE Throughout this devotional, you ll be prompted to spend regular time in spiritual reflection and Scripture contemplation. Use this guide to structure your Bible reading. As an option, consider selecting some of these passages to memorize or to utilize in daily prayer. WEEK 1 John 12:23 33, 17:1 5; Hebrews 2:9; Revelation 5:5 6 WEEK 2 Matthew 11:28 30, 28:20; John 15:13; Romans 5:6 8, 8:38 39; Ephesians 3:17 19; 1 John 4:9 10 WEEK 3 Isaiah 10:1 2, Ezekiel 7:8, Amos 5:18 24, Matthew 23:13 33, Romans 5:8 10, Revelation 21:3 4 WEEK 4 Isaiah 53, 1 Corinthians 15:54 55, 2 Corinthians 1:3 5, Hebrews 4:15 16 WEEK 5 Psalm 103:7 12; Romans 2:4, 3:23 26; 2 Peter 3:8 9 WEEK 6 Mark 10:45; Luke 15:11 32; John 2:1 11, 3:16, 10:17 18, 15:13; Romans 8:32; Galatians 1:3 5 HOLY WEEK Palm Sunday: Genesis 49:10 11; 1 Kings 1:38 39; Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:1 11, 27:27 37 Holy Monday: Ephesians 2:13 16 Holy Tuesday: Romans 3:22 24, 1 Corinthians 1:30, Galatians 2:20 Holy Wednesday: Philippians 2:6 11, Hebrews 12:2 Maundy Thursday: Matthew 26:36 46, 2 Corinthians 1:3 4 Good Friday: Psalm 22, Mark 15:22 37 Holy Saturday: John 16:16 33 EASTER SUNDAY John 11:1 44, 20:1 18; 1 Corinthians 15:20 21, 54 56; Colossians 2:13 15; Revelation 21:1 4 7

10 JOURNEY TO THE CROSS WEEKS 1-6 FOR THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS FOOLISHNESS TO THOSE WHO ARE PERISHING, BUT TO US WHO ARE BEING SAVED IT IS THE POWER OF GOD. 1 CORINTHIANS 1:18

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13 WEEK 1 THE GLORY OF THE CROSS JEREMY TREAT PHOTO BY ADAM SIMPSON / GETTY The first time my daughter opened her eyes was inside an ambulance racing through downtown Chicago. As I held her tight, her blue eyes looked straight into mine, and I knew she was going to be fine. We already had a special bond because I had just delivered her in the front seat of our Honda Civic. It was one of the most glorious moments of my life. And yet, suffering personified that is, my wife was lying next to us on a stretcher. She embodied the pain through which such glory had come. I had witnessed firsthand glory through suffering. Every time I recall the moment, I realize that glory through suffering isn t unique to my daughter s birth. According to the gospel, it s the story of the world. Suffering is inevitable and unavoidable. Surrounded by cancer, mental illness, infertility, depression, loss, and ultimately death, we ask how God s glory could shine through such tragic circumstances. For most of us, glory and suffering seem incompatible, just like something cannot be simultaneously hot and cold, wet and dry. But Christ s journey from the cradle to the grave reveals a pattern that is stitched throughout the fabric of Scripture. For Christ, Christians, and all creation, the way of glory is the way of the Cross. 11

14 When we look at Scripture, we might conclude that suffering and glory compose a two-step movement: Glory comes after suffering. Certainly at many points, Scripture presents suffering and glory as a linear progression (Acts 2:33 36, Phil. 2:6 9, 1 Pet. 1:10 11, Heb. 2:9 10). But it also reveals a more organic and overlapping relation between the two: glory through suffering (John 12:23 33, Rev. 5:5 6). As Jesus approached his death, he said, And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself (John 12:32). At first, it seems that Jesus is talking about his coming entrance JESUS REPLIED, into heaven. But the following verse explains THE HOUR HAS that Jesus is referring to his crucifixion: He COME FOR THE said this to show what kind of death he was SON OF MAN TO going to die. John s gospel builds toward the climactic hour when Jesus being lifted up BE GLORIFIED.... on the cross is the moment he is enthroned in AND I, WHEN I AM glory (John 12:23 32, 3:14, 8:28). The Cross LIFTED UP FROM becomes the throne from which Christ rules THE EARTH, WILL the world. DRAW ALL PEOPLE The Cross also becomes the fulcrum TO MYSELF. HE SAID upon which the logic of the world is turned upside down. Shame is transformed into glory, THIS TO SHOW THE foolishness into wisdom, and humiliation KIND OF DEATH HE into exaltation. The glory of the Cross shines WAS GOING TO DIE. throughout the rest of the New Testament. Paul says, The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who JOHN 12:23, are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18). And according to the Book of Hebrews, God is restoring his original design for creation through the death of his Son, who was crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death (2:9). From the bruised heel of Genesis 3:15 to the reigning lamb of Revelation 22, the Bible tells the story of a crucified Messiah who is glorified through suffering. 12 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

15 When we look at Jesus, we see that God has accomplished the most powerful act of salvation. He has revealed his glory through the most humble means of a cross. But a question remains: What is glory? And how can it possibly emerge from such a horrific and shameful death? According to J. I. Packer, glory is excellence and praiseworthiness set forth in display. The original iphone, for example, was impressive in its design before anyone ever saw it. But when Steve Jobs unveiled it to the world, it was a moment of glory. Likewise, the glory of God is God s going public with his infinite beauty. As Jonathan Edwards taught, glory is not merely another one of God s attributes or characteristics (along with his holiness, love, power, and so forth). CHRIST S DEATH IS THE Rather, it is the admirable conjunction ULTIMATE, THUS SAYETH of diverse excellencies. Glory is the dazzling, jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring THE LORD. IT REVEALS showcase of God s character to a world THE GLORIOUS HARMONY darkened by sin. It is the explosive OF GOD S MULTIFACETED radiance produced by his holiness, love, mercy, justice, wisdom, and power all CHARACTER. THE CROSS of which come together in the most IS THE CROSSROADS OF fitting way in the death of Christ. EVERYTHING WE KNOW At the Cross, we see God s justice through the judgment of sin, God s love ABOUT GOD. through the forgiveness of sinners, God s power through his defeat of Satan, and God s wisdom in his upholding of holiness yet making a way for sinners. Christ s death is the ultimate, Thus sayeth the Lord. It reveals the glorious harmony of God s multifaceted character. The Cross is the crossroads of everything we know about God. To say that God s glory shines through the Cross is to make a deeply Trinitarian statement. John s gospel makes it clear that the Son glorifies the Father (7:18), that the Father glorifies the Son (8:54), and that this loving Trinitarian exchange of glory has taken place for all eternity (17:5, 24). And yet, stunningly, the Cross is where this Trinitarian exchange of 13

16 glory is put on full display. The glory revealed through self-giving love at the Cross is a window into the eternal life of the triune God. Through the Cross we see the wisdom of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the power of the Holy Spirit the harmony of which results in the radiant display of God s glorious, self-giving love. So is the Cross for God s glory or for our salvation? Yes! There is no competition between God s glory and our well-being. As John Piper famously said, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Scripture repeatedly states that God s glory is good news to a world darkened by sin (2 Cor. 4:4). Just as the radiance of the sun produces life and GLORY IS THE DAZZLING, flourishing throughout the earth, so JAW-DROPPING, AWEthe radiance of God s glory is both the source of our salvation and the means INSPIRING SHOWCASE OF for our growth. GOD S CHARACTER TO A Majesty and meekness, sovereignty and servitude, humiliation WORLD DARKENED BY SIN. and exaltation such is the paradox of the crucified Messiah. Our lives are filled with pain and pleasure, glory and garbage, dreams and despair. That s the tension of a world marred by sin yet sustained by grace. The only hope for our world is Christ, the one who experienced the full brunt of sin and death yet overcame them on our behalf. Because he experienced glory in suffering and exaltation through humiliation, so can we. My daughter s middle name is Hope, which my wife and I chose to remember that our hope is in God alone. We can take comfort that God has entered into our suffering, embrace his power in the midst of our suffering, and cling to him with hope that one day he will put an end to our suffering. We are being transformed from one degree of glory to another by way of the Cross. JEREMY TREAT is a pastor at Reality LA in Hollywood, and an adjunct professor at Biola University in La Mirada, California. He is the author of The Crucified King. 14 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

17 FOR REFLECTION When you think of God s glory, what image, experience, or biblical account normally comes to mind for you? Why? What adjectives would you use to describe the way you usually think of God s glory? How does the gruesome suffering and death of Christ confront or challenge your understanding of glory? Prayerfully read John 12:23 33 and 17:1 5. The first passage takes place just days before Jesus crucifixion; the second occurs on the night he was betrayed. What stands out to you most about Jesus words here? Why? Reflect on Hebrews 2:9 and Revelation 5:5 6. In these passages, we see Christ s suffering and death linked with heavenly glory and honor. How do these passages further enrich your contemplation of the Cross and God s glory? Jeremy Treat asserts that glory is not merely another one of God s attributes or characteristics but, instead, could be better understood as the sum of God s character or, as Jonathan Edwards put it, as the admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies. What s your reaction to this understanding of God s glory? According to Treat, the Cross reveals the glorious harmony of God s multifaceted character. The Cross is the crossroads of everything we know about God. How do you see the character of God revealed in and through the Cross? Reflect on several specific traits of God. Pray, worshiping God for his character his glory revealed in and through the Cross. 15

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19 WEEK 2 LOVE THAT BEARS OUR BURDENS MARK GALLI PHOTO BY JILL LANG / GETTY IMAGES The cross of Christ has sometimes been compared to the electric chair or other forms of execution, meaning we are wise to remember that it was an instrument of death in the ancient world. The cross is also often used to prompt us to give ourselves sacrificially for him and others. But comparisons to other forms of execution can miss the deeper biblical teaching about the cross. And the cross is much more than an object lesson in how we should live. Its very shape is not incidental to its deeper biblical meaning nor to the very nature of God who hung there. To get at the deeper meaning, we can turn to the great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky, especially one scene in the middle of Crime and Punishment. The lead character Rodion Raskolnikov had brutally murdered an elderly pawnbroker and money-lender, Alyona Ivanovna. When Ivanovna s half-sister, Lizaveta, stumbled upon the scene, he murdered her as well. Raskolnikov later meets a young woman, Sonia, who has become a prostitute to support her family. He is immediately drawn to her, and after he learns that Sonia had been friends with Lizaveta, he feels compelled to confess his murders to her. He finally musters up the courage to do so, but 17

20 only indirectly, leaving her to work out for herself that Lizaveta s murderer is the man speaking with her. When it dawns on her what he has just confessed, She jumped up, seeming not to know what she was doing, and, wringing her hands, walked into the middle of the room; but quickly went back and sat down again beside him, her shoulder almost touching his. All of a sudden she started as though she had been stabbed, uttered a cry and fell on her knees before him, she did not know why. What have you done what have you done to yourself? she said in despair, and, jumping up, she flung herself on his neck, threw her arms round him, and held him tightly. Raskolnikov is not the only one who is shocked by Sonia s gesture. The reader is as well. What is going on here? Why is Sonia embracing this murderer in what seems to be a fit of compassion? When she next speaks, she explains, There is no one no one in the whole world now so unhappy as you! she cried in a frenzy... and she suddenly broke into violent hysterical weeping. There we see the meaning of the Cross and the revelation of the deepest nature of God. Jesus did not consider that the glory of divinity as something to exalt in, but decided to bear the yoke of human nature. He showed himself not only to be a man of sorrows, but also a God who has borne our griefs; not merely a man wounded for our transgression, but also a God bruised for our iniquities (Isa. 53). He saw the grievous sin of humankind, and the Cross is the sign of his violent, hysterical weeping for us. Lest we become sentimental here, let us recall the full picture, both in Crime and Punishment and in biblical revelation. Sonia s love also violently weeps for the murdered, adamantly insists that Raskolnikov repent before God and the whole earth, and demands that he turn himself in and endure justice. And when Jesus dies on the cross, he does so not only in compassion 18 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

21 for our sin but in fierce judgment against it. The fact that it took Jesus God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God to die for sin means that sin is a problem of transcendent proportions. It is not something to be dismissed with a wave of a divine hand. But the judgment against sin is not merely severe. It is a judgment grounded in a righteous BUT GOD anger that also weeps, in a search for justice DEMONSTRATES HIS that is framed by compassion, by a wrath that is driven by love. Such is the complex and OWN LOVE FOR US mysterious nature of our God that our sin also IN THIS: WHILE WE causes him to grab the sinner around the neck WERE STILL SINNERS, and weep hysterically, for he knows better CHRIST DIED FOR US. than anyone what sin has done to us, knows the tragic sadness that overshadows us. This sadness is not merely a negative emotion in ROMANS 5:8 the breast. It s closer to depression, which permeates every inch of our body from head to foot. It s even closer to a cancer that will eat away at us until there is nothing left. This is the sort of thing sin does to us. It s no wonder our loving Creator weeps. And yet there is more. A weeping God doesn t do us much good in the end. We appreciate the sympathy, but we need more than sympathy. So the Cross is not only a sign of God s compassion for us but also his commitment to us. In the confession scene in Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky notes Raskolnikov s stunned reaction: Then you won t leave me, Sonia? he said, looking at her almost with hope. No, no, never, nowhere! cried Sonia. I will follow you, I will follow you everywhere. Raskolnikov tries to talk Sonia out of accompanying him to prison in Siberia the place of judgment and exile, the symbol of suffering and 19

22 desolation. Sonia responds by giving him a cross to wear and wears one herself, saying, We will go to suffer together, and together we will bear our cross! This brings to mind Jesus saying in Matthew: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (11:28 30) The yoke is a crossbar with two U-shaped pieces that encircle the necks of a pair of oxen, mules, or other draft animals working in a team. Jesus here pictures himself as accompanying us in the yoke but taking upon himself the full weight of the burden. This is why his yoke is easy and the burden light, because on the cross he shouldered all, making himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant (Phil. 2:7). When Paul tells us to bear one another s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2, NKJV), he s not placing upon our backs a new religious obligation. No, the law of Christ here is like the law of gravity, that is, a description of the way things work, the way reality operates. Bear one another s burdens, he is saying, because this is the secret of the universe; this is the way the deepest reality works; this is how the Creator of Reality operates day in and day out. Jesus indeed calls us to take up our cross (Mark 8:34), but the full weight of the cross-beamed yoke is born by him, the God who sorrows for our sins, the man who bears our griefs. This is the Lord and Savior who promises to never leave or forsake us (Matt. 28:20) and actually helps shoulder the burdens that life with him invariably entails, even if our journey takes us to desolate places no, especially when our journey takes us to the most desolate of places. MARK GALLI is editor in chief of Christianity Today. 20 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

23 FOR REFLECTION What stands out to you most about the interactions between Raskolnikov and Sonia described in this essay? Why? Mark Galli writes, He showed himself not only to be a man of sorrows but also a God who has borne our griefs.... He saw the grievous sin of humankind, and the Cross is the sign of his violent, hysterical weeping for us. How is this description like or unlike the way you may normally think of the Cross? Contemplate John 15:13, Romans 5:6 8, and 1 John 4:9 10 in light of this idea. What does the Cross reveal about the character of God? Of the nature of God s love? Galli observes that When Jesus dies on the cross, he does so not only in compassion for our sin but in fierce judgment against it. But it is a judgment grounded in a righteous anger that also weeps, in a search for justice that is framed by compassion, by a wrath that is driven by love. How do you understand the interaction between God s love and God s judgment? How has your understanding of God s love and God s judgment changed over the years? Reflect further on the nature of God s love by meditating upon Matthew 11:28 30, 28:20; Romans 8:38 39; and Ephesians 3: What phrases or ideas in these passages stand out to you most? What other words might you use to describe God s love? How is the Cross an expression of this love? Pray, expressing your gratitude to God who will not ever forsake those he loves. 21

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25 WEEK 3 THE WRATH THE WORLD NEEDS FLEMING RUTLEDGE PHOTO BY TIMOTHY KIRMAN / EYEEM / GETTY IMAGES When affluent white Americans think of heaven, we tend to think of celestial serenity, natural beauty, and family reunions. Black Americans and other disadvantaged groups would be much more likely to think of God s promise that there will be ultimate justice. For anyone who has suffered great wrong, it is important to know, as the Book of Revelation promises so wondrously, that all wrongs will be righted (Rev. 21:3 4). To be sure, most people, of whatever color, tend to be intensely interested in justice when it is for themselves. It is the notion of justice for all that is missing from much of our public discourse. People turn out for justice when the issue is something that affects them directly, but it is difficult to generate public enthusiasm to support justice for somebody else, or some group other than one s own. The civil rights movement was an authentic miracle of God s justice because it managed to mobilize significant numbers of people from various constituencies. Unfortunately, this is rare. Apathy and lack of caring for others have something to do with this; determination not to lose one s privileges may be a larger motivator. There is a theological dimension here. Justice for everyone is an alarming 23

26 thought because it raises the possibility that it might come upon oneself after all. As the author of Ephesians puts it, by nature we are all children of wrath, like the rest of mankind (Eph. 2:3, ESV). It makes many people queasy nowadays to talk about the wrath of God, but there can be no turning away from this prominent biblical theme. Oppressed peoples from around the world have been empowered by the scriptural picture of a God who is angered by injustice SINCE WE HAVE and unrighteousness. If we are resistant to NOW BEEN the idea of the wrath of God, we might pause to reflect the next time we are outraged about JUSTIFIED something about our property values being BY HIS BLOOD, threatened, or our children s educational HOW MUCH MORE opportunities being limited, or our tax breaks SHALL WE BE being eliminated. All of us are capable of anger SAVED FROM about something. God s anger, however, is pure. GOD S WRATH It does not have the maintenance of privilege as its object but goes out on behalf of those who THROUGH HIM! have no privileges. The wrath of God is not an emotion that flares up from time to time, as ROMANS 5:9 though God has temper tantrums. It is a way of describing his absolute enmity against all wrong and his coming to set matters right. On September 2, 1990, a murder occurred in New York City that horrified the nation. The Watkins family from Provo, Utah, a father and mother with their two barely grown sons, had come joyfully to the city for a long-anticipated trip to attend the US Open tennis matches. While waiting on the subway platform for the train to Flushing Meadows, the family was assaulted by a band of four youths. The older of the two sons went to his mother s rescue as she was being kicked in the face, and he was killed in the attempt. The judge, Edwin Torres, sentenced all four attackers to life without parole, the toughest sentence possible in New York at that time, and in doing so issued a striking statement expressing 24 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

27 grave alarm for a society in which a band of marauders can surround, pounce upon, and kill a boy in front of his parents [and then] stride up the block to Roseland and dance until 4 a.m. as if they had stepped on an insect. For a mother to hold a dying child in her arms, murdered before her very eyes, is a visitation that the devil himself would hesitate to conjure up. That cannot go unpunished. If we think of Christian theology and ethics purely in terms of forgiveness, we will have neglected a central aspect of God s own character and will be in no position to understand the Cross in its fullest dimension. God s new creation must be a just one, or the promises of God will seem like mockery to those whose defenselessness has been exploited by the powerful. Furthermore, if we fail to take into account God s justice, we will miss the extraordinary way in which it is recast in the New Testament. John the Baptist stormed out of the desert with a fiery message, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath of God? In our own day, in our haste to flee from the wrath of God, we might ask whether we have thought through the consequences of belief in a god who is not set against evil in all its forms. Miroslav Volf writes, A non-indignant God would be an accomplice in injustice, deception, and violence. Perhaps the reason we have trouble with this is that we are ourselves accomplices. Yet most people will say at some point that their blood boils ; the question then becomes, what is the boiling temperature? If our blood does not boil at injustice, how can we be serving the God who said the following through his prophet Isaiah? Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people. (Isa. 10:1 2) Where is the outrage? It is God s own; it is the wrath of God against all that stands against his redemptive purpose. It is not an emotion; it is God s righteous activity in setting right what is wrong. It is God s intervention on behalf of those who cannot help themselves. 25

28 No one could have imagined, however, that he would ultimately intervene by interposing himself. By becoming one of the poor who was deprived of his rights, by dying as one of those robbed of justice, God s Son submitted to the utmost extremity of his humiliation, entering into total solidarity with those who are without help. He, the King of Kings and Lord of IF WE THINK OF CHRISTIAN Lords, voluntarily underwent the THEOLOGY AND ETHICS mockery of the multitudes, and, in the time of greatest extremity, he PURELY IN TERMS OF could do nothing to help himself FORGIVENESS, WE WILL (Mark 15:31). HAVE NEGLECTED A Even more astonishingly, however, he underwent helplessness CENTRAL ASPECT OF GOD S and humiliation not only for the victimized but also for the perpetrators. OWN CHARACTER AND WILL BE IN NO POSITION TO Who would have thought that the same God who passed judgment, UNDERSTAND THE CROSS IN calling down woe upon the religious ITS FULLEST DIMENSION. establishment (Matt. 23, Luke 11), would come under his own judgment and woe? This is a shockingly immoral and unreligious idea; the crucifixion reveals God placing himself under his own sentence. The wrath of God has lodged in God s own self. Perfect justice is wrought in the self-offering of the Son, who alone of all human beings was perfectly righteous. Therefore no one, neither victim nor victimizer, can claim any exemption from judgment on one s own merits but only on the merits of the Son. FLEMING RUTLEDGE is the author of The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ, CT s Book of the Year in Adapted excerpt from The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge, 2015 (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.). Reprinted by permission of the publisher, all rights reserved. 26 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

29 FOR REFLECTION When have you been angered by sin or injustice? Have you ever felt, as the judge said, That cannot go unpunished? Read Isaiah 10:1 2. (Optional: Also read Ezek. 7:8, Amos 5:18 24, and Matt. 23:13 33). Does it comfort or upset you to read expressions of God s anger? How would you characterize God s anger? Reflect on Revelation 21:3 4. Why is it significant to you that God will finally put all wrongs right? How is the promise of ultimate justice important in your life of faith? In The Crucifixion, Fleming Rutledge describes the wrath of God as always exercised in the service of God s good purposes. It is the unconditional love of God manifested against anything that would frustrate or destroy the designs of his love. Consider Romans 5:8 10 in light of this idea. How is God s wrath an expression of love? In the article, Rutledge asserts, If we think of Christian theology and ethics purely in terms of forgiveness, we will have neglected a central aspect of God s own character and will be in no position to understand the Cross in its fullest dimension. How does the Cross provide a lens through which to view the wrath of God? Conversely, how does reflection upon God s wrath help you better understand the Cross? Pray, praising God for his pure, just, and holy anger. 27

30 WEEK 4 GOD, WHO CANNOT SUFFER, SUFFERED WESLEY HILL Istill vividly remember the first time I went to speak with an older, wiser Christian about some significant personal pain. I remember sitting down in his office, tongue-tied. I remember my halting effort to find the words to express my questions. I remember, afterward, feeling the joy of a burden lifted. But as much as I remember anything about that day, I remember why I went to see that particular mentor rather than someone else. First, I knew that this friend had suffered. He had already described for me his own dark times in which he had cried and prayed to God for relief. Second, I knew my friend had somehow journeyed on beyond where I was. Not only was he several decades my senior, those years of faith had also deepened and seasoned him, like a rich-hued oak table grown darker and smoother with repeated polishing. It was the combination suffering and godly maturity that made me want to confide in my friend. This experience illustrates why many Christians throughout the ages have wanted to affirm two things about God s saving relationship to 28 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

31 PHOTO BY BRIMSTONE CREATIVE / LIGHTSTOCK us. Placing their faith in a crucified Savior, the early Christians declared that God has suffered. It was, in the words of the church fathers, precisely one of the Trinity who bled and died for us. As Scripture puts it, We don t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all all but HE WAS DESPISED the sin (Heb. 4:15, The Message). AND REJECTED BY But, in the same breath, our Christian forebears also declared that God the same God who MANKIND, A MAN OF SUFFERING, AND hung on a tree for our salvation didn t give up FAMILIAR WITH PAIN. his transcendent majesty when he did so. God remained who he always had been: the One who is beyond human change, suffering, and death. ISAIAH 53:3 To be sure, holding on to both of these affirmations often resulted in paradoxical statements. Like a third-culture kid trying to straddle her native home and a new environment, the church fathers and those who came after them tried 29

32 creative ways of speaking about God s work in Christ. Charles Wesley, the Methodist hymnist, exclaimed, Tis mystery all: / Th Immortal dies! The One who cannot die has died. Cyril of Alexandria, a fifth-century bishop in Egypt, spoke teasingly of the suffering of the impassible [or unable-tosuffer ] God. The One who is impervious to human suffering has suffered. What these writers were trying to articulate was the paradox of a God who surrenders none of his saving health and power, even in the moment when God humbles himself to the most abject weakness and vulnerability. Only if God remains God immutable, omnipotent, and impassible could the Cross be a rescue operation rather than merely a comforting but ultimately ineffective solidarity with us humans in ONLY IF GOD REMAINS GOD our misery. As Eastern Orthodox IMMUTABLE, OMNIPOTENT, theologian Paul Gavrilyuk writes, The compassionate person... is AND IMPASSIBLE COULD able to help precisely because he THE CROSS BE A RESCUE is not susceptible to suffering to OPERATION RATHER THAN the degree to which the victim is. Thinking back to my time MERELY A COMFORTING BUT with my older friend, I catch a ULTIMATELY INEFFECTIVE glimpse of why this paradox was SOLIDARITY WITH US so important to the early Christians. I knew I needed to talk with HUMANS IN OUR MISERY. someone who would be a sensitive fellow sufferer, who could identify with what I was feeling, one who was familiar with sorrows and acquainted with grief. But I also knew that no amount of I ve been there too camaraderie would be enough if my mentor couldn t also somehow pull me out of the mire I d fallen into. Empathy could only go so far. If my friend didn t stand ahead of me, at a further point down the road of discipleship, he wouldn t have been much help. The same is true with God albeit in a qualitatively different way. The reason the death of Jesus is able to defeat death, rather than capitulate to it, is that Jesus is God. He is the same God who told Moses from the 30 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

33 burning bush, I Am Who I Am (Ex. 3:14). He is the One who stands beyond time and the waves of human vacillation and defenselessness. That is the One who carried his own cross to Calvary. If that One died, his death could never be mere sympathetic cosuffering with us. That death was the end of death. That death broke death s power forever because it was the death of the Deathless One. Praise him. WESLEY HILL teaches New Testament at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. He is the author of several books, including Spiritual Friendship. FOR REFLECTION Wesley Hill begins by describing the comfort he sought from a friend who d also been through suffering. When have you had a similar experience? Who in your life has been a source of meaningful empathy and comfort? What s your reaction to the paradox Hill explores in this article? Why is this paradox significant? Read Isaiah 53 and meditate upon Jesus suffering: betrayal, beatings, torture, mockery, crucifixion. What stands out to you most from this passage? Why? Reflect on 2 Corinthians 1:3 5 and Hebrews 4: When has Jesus suffering been a meaningful comfort to you during your own suffering, temptation, or sorrow? How does the Cross enable you to know God as the Great Comforter? Hill concludes by saying, [Jesus ] death broke death s power forever because it was the death of the Deathless One. Contemplate Paul s reflections on the defeat of death 1 Corinthians 15: How do you desire to respond to God? Pray by revisiting Isaiah 53 and spending time in quiet contemplation. 31

34 WEEK 5 THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD S PATIENCE DEREK RISHMAWY Moses was well-acquainted with the patience of God. He pled for Israel when they betrayed the Lord with the golden calf. For years he dealt with the Israelites in the desert, their complaining and recalcitrance. They vexed the Holy One of Israel (Ps. 78:41), and still God bore it, restraining his wrath and refusing to cut them off (Isa. 48:9). God s patience is a central, defining feature of his character. But this wasn t always a comfort to Moses. Rather than being left to deal with the grumbling and sin of his people, he asks God to kill him outright (Num. 11:15). Moses isn t alone in this frustration. Unnerved by the success of lawbreakers, thieves, and idolaters, the psalmist asks, How long will the wicked be jubilant? (Ps. 94:3). David cries a similar lament in the face of his enemies taunts (Ps. 13:1). Overwhelmed by opposition, he wonders whether God will defend him. In Scripture, God s people are surprised and repelled by God s patience as often as they are comforted by it. My own impatience with God s patience might be one of the defining features of my life. I become worried and anxious when I see false 32 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

35 PHOTO BY SLAYSTORM / GETTY IMAGES teaching in the church, spanning from the prosperity gospel to modern gnostic heresies. I dwell on the strife in our midst, our continued struggle for racial reconciliation and wholeness. Why, I ask, does God allow this disorder to persist? The wisdom of God in the Cross often comes across to us as foolishness (1 Cor. 1:18). At its core, the Cross is a sign of the patience of God. He has passed over our sins, rather than condemning us as we deserve (Rom 3:25). In fact, patience is linguistically and conceptually linked to passion (passio). In the passion of Jesus Christ on the cross we see the concrete patience of our triune God incarnate in history. When local congregations were tempted to licentious living by false teachers who taught them that Christ would not return, Peter reminded them: But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The 33

36 Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Pet. 3:8 9) God may be patient, but he does not delay. As the transcendent Lord of all time, he has declared from ancient times things not yet done (Isa. 46:10). His eyes alone behold the whole tapestry of history. As beings bound by time, we experience them only as frayed threads. But THE LORD IS NOT his timing is perfect. SLOW IN KEEPING Because God is merciful, he waits. He will not bring about the judgment of the last HIS PROMISE, AS days until the gospel has been preached to SOME UNDERSTAND all nations (Matt. 24:14). And so, as Hermann SLOWNESS. INSTEAD Cremer put it, The history of the world HE IS PATIENT WITH moves forward under the patience of God YOU, NOT WANTING proved in the passion of Jesus Christ. ANYONE TO PERISH, But Christ did not patiently endure the Cross only to bring the world into the church. BUT EVERYONE He also aimed to sanctify the church in the TO COME TO midst of the world (1 Pet. 2:24). In his own REPENTANCE. time, Christ will keep his promises to render his church spotless and radiant despite all 2 PETER 3:9 outward appearances (Eph. 5:25 27). Perhaps this is why Paul was able to persevere for the church to not give up in the face of slander, rejection, and flagrant sin in various congregations. In light of the Resurrection, Paul encourages the church to stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58). His command is not a bizarre non-sequitur but the practical application of everything that s come before: Resurrection is coming, so don t give up! 34 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

37 Faith in the Resurrection instills trust that our patient God the One who waited three days in the tomb has the power to bring a harvest of life even when all we see is a field sown with death (1 Cor. 15:42 43). DEREK RISHMAWY is a doctoral student in systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He writes online at derekzrishmawy.com. FOR REFLECTION How would you define the word patience? Consider these related terms: forbearance, endurance, restraint, long-suffering, toleration, and constancy. How might these fit with or augment your definition? Consider times in your life when you are required to be patient. How does God s divine patience compare or contrast with human patience? Reflect upon the patience of God as it is described in Psalm 103:7 12 and Romans 2:4. What are some expressions of God s patience you see in Scripture? How have you experienced God s patience in your own life? Derek Rishmawy writes, At its core, the Cross is a sign of the patience of God. He has passed over our sins, rather than condemning us as we deserve. Contemplate Romans 3:23 26 and 2 Peter 3:8-9. How do these passages enrich your understanding of divine patience? In the passion of Jesus Christ on the cross we see the concrete patience of our triune God incarnate in history, Rishmawy asserts. How so? In light of the passages you ve read, how is the Cross an expression of God s patience? What does it reveal about God s character? Pray by meditating upon the Cross as an expression of the patience of God. Give thanks to God in word or song. 35

38 WEEK 6 JESUS, NOT SALVATION, IS GOD S GREATEST GIFT TO US ANDREW WILSON Jesus is the greatest gift there is. Yet as soon as we hear this statement, we re apt to collapse it into a statement about some other gift, like salvation. Being given Jesus, in our minds, quickly morphs into being given forgiveness, or rescue, or eternal life. Jesus himself, the gift who perfectly embodies God s generosity and goodness, gets bumped to the third page. The Gospels don t do that. From his Incarnation to his Ascension, Jesus Christ puts the liberality and largesse of God on display. It is not just at the Cross, or even in the Resurrection, that Jesus represents the grace, the gift-giving-ness, of God to us. In every miracle, every parable simply by being in the world at all Jesus is proclaiming, God is good, he loves giving, and I m here, among other things, to prove it. Many parables in the Gospels present God as an irrepressible giver, even when the parable has other goals. Once there was a farmer who scattered seed so liberally that most of it didn t take root. Once there was a king who forgave a debt of 10,000 talents (millions of dollars today). Once there was a vineyard owner who gave people far more than 36 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

39 PHOTO BY FRESTOCKS-ORG / UNSPLASH their work was worth. Once there was a father who gave away half his estate to his rebellious son and then gave him a feast when he came crawling back, having wasted it all. Once there was a nobleman who gave three months wages to all his employees and then went on a foreign trip. Once there was a landowner who gave his vineyard over to tenants. Once there was a king who gave wedding invitations to every undesirable in the county. It is hard to think of a parable in which the God-figure is not giving away far more than he should. There is an extravagance verging on wastefulness to Jesus miracles as well. How many weddings need 150 gallons of fine wine? Why can t someone who miraculously multiplies FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. JOHN 3:16 37

40 bread and fish avoid over-catering by 12 baskets? If you could heal someone with a word, why would you wait three days before raising him, putrid grave clothes and all, before the whole village? Why walk on water rather than swim? Why calm a storm rather than waiting a day to go sailing? Why should a death cause not just earthquakes, dark skies, and torn curtains, but also dozens of random people coming to life? Who produces 153 fish out of nowhere, nearly causing the boat carrying them to sink? Who does it twice? We could go on. We could study Jesus most famous sermon, chock-full of invitations to ask, seek, knock, and trust that the Father who clothes the flowers will give good things to his children rather than snakes, stones, and scorpions. We could walk through his remarkable teaching in John s gospel on the gift of the Holy Spirit. We could take the Lord s Supper and reflect on his gifts of bread and wine, body and blood. Wherever we look, Jesus is talking about sharing, enacting, and ultimately being the Father s gift to us. For all this, the Cross and Resurrection remain its most astonishing expression. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son (John 3:16). For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). WHEREVER WE LOOK, The Lord Jesus Christ, who gave JESUS IS TALKING ABOUT himself for our sins to rescue us (Gal. 1:3 4). Notice that in each SHARING, ENACTING, AND of these texts, the gift is Jesus, not ULTIMATELY BEING THE freedom, forgiveness, justification, FATHER S GIFT TO US. adoption, or whatever. Of course those things are wonderful, and of course, God gives them as well. But the logic of Paul s rhetorical question in Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son... how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? is that Jesus himself, rather than anything else in creation, is the most costly 38 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

41 and bountiful gift God could give. If we have been given Jesus, we will be given all things on his coattails. Jesus is the greatest gift there is. Not as a means to an end, but as the end itself, the source of all joy, the ultimate demonstration of God s goodness and generosity. Receive, and give thanks. ANDREW WILSON is teaching pastor at Kings Church London and author most recently of The Life We Never Expected. Follow him on FOR REFLECTION Andrew Wilson posits that Being given Jesus, in our minds, quickly morphs into being given forgiveness, or rescue, or eternal life. Do you have this tendency? Why do you think that is? Meditate upon Mark 10:45, John 3:16, and Galatians 1:3 5. From your perspective, why is it important to focus on Jesus himself as God s gift rather than focusing primarily on other gifts that Jesus gives us? Wilson writes, From his Incarnation to his Ascension, Jesus Christ puts the liberality and largesse of God on display. Reflect on some examples by reading Luke 15:11 32 and John 2:1 11. How would you characterize God based on these passages? What other biblical passages are significant to you in their demonstration of God s generosity? Consider John 10:17 18, 15:13 and Romans 8:32. How do these passages enrich your understanding of Jesus as God s greatest gift? How is Jesus suffering and death on the Cross the ultimate display of the generosity of God? Pray, thanking Jesus for giving us himself. 39

42 JOURNEY TO THE CROSS HOLY WEEK THIS IS HOW GOD SHOWED HIS LOVE AMONG US: HE SENT HIS ONE AND ONLY SON INTO THE WORLD THAT WE MIGHT LIVE THROUGH HIM. THIS IS LOVE: NOT THAT WE LOVED GOD, BUT THAT HE LOVED US AND SENT HIS SON AS AN ATONING SACRIFICE FOR OUR SINS. I JOHN 4:9 10

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44 PALM SUNDAY THE COMING OF THE KING Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. (Matt. 21:1 2). They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. (v. 7). However trivial this errand may have seemed, it was full of biblical and theological significance. The THIS TOOK PLACE prophet, Zechariah, had said: See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on TO FULFILL WHAT a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zech. 9:9). WAS SPOKEN When Jesus mounted the donkey not just any THROUGH THE donkey, but specifically a purebred colt, as Zechariah PROPHET: SAY promised he was presenting himself as Israel s TO DAUGHTER promised king. Many would have remembered the ZION, SEE, YOUR words of Zechariah and recognized what Jesus was doing. Some may have even remembered that when KING COMES TO Solomon became Israel s king, he was presented on YOU, GENTLE the donkey of his father David (1 Kings 1:38 39). AND RIDING ON A When they saw Jesus riding on the foal of a donkey, DONKEY, AND ON they said, Hosanna to the Son of David! (Matt. 21:9) A COLT, THE FOAL By using that title, they were acclaiming Jesus to be OF A DONKEY. their rightful king. There is an even older prophecy that explains why Jesus rode a donkey. Long before Zechariah, MATTHEW 21:4 5 Jacob pronounced this blessing on his son Judah: The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch (Gen. 49:10 11). Jacob s prophecy meant that Israel s true king would come from the tribe of Judah and that 42 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

45 PHOTO BY KKETI / GETTY IMAGES in some way he would be associated with the colt of a donkey. What is only hinted at in Genesis is made plain in the Gospel of Matthew: Jesus, the Son of David, from the tribe of Judah, rode into Jerusalem as Israel s rightful king. If Jesus is the king, then all his loyal subjects must recognize his kingship. The Jews did this by calling him the Son of David and by spreading their cloaks before him. This was the ancient custom; people threw down their garments to make a carpet for the royal procession. We recognize his sovereignty by laying our hearts before him, throwing down our wills in absolute surrender, and asking Jesus to govern everything we think and say and do. PHILIP RYKEN is president of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Contemplate Matthew 21:1 11 alongside Genesis 49:10 11, 1 Kings 1:38 39, and Zechariah 9:9. Also read Matthew 27: Prayerfully reflect on the ways Palm Sunday and Good Friday both emphasize Jesus identity as King. 43

46 HOLY MONDAY HE IS OUR PEACE Pax Romana was fragile, pounded precariously together with cross nails and oppressive taxation. But one night, angels shattered the repressed silence. They announced a different kind of peace to a weary people: The long-awaited Prince of Peace had broken into history in the shape of a poor working-class baby in an insignificant corner, far from the seats of Roman and temple power. Jesus rule was not marked by military or economic might. Instead, he gave himself YOU... HAVE away, granting sight to the blind, feeding the hungry, liberating the oppressed, and affirming the dignity of BEEN BROUGHT women, children, and marginalized. NEAR BY THE Rather than imposing security by repression and BLOOD OF CHRIST. death, Jesus took on the scornful cross in loving sacrifice. In so doing, he unveiled as deceitful the powers of FOR HE HIMSELF IS OUR PEACE. death that held humanity estranged from God, from one another, and from the rest of creation. Christ, our peace, effected salvation, giving new life to the dead. EPHESIANS 2:13 14 He reconciled our relationship with God, healed from enmity a broken humanity, and restored the entire created order. This is surely Good News: Pax Christi, Jesus is our peace. Christ has abolished the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility (Eph. 2:15 16, ESV). Thanks to Christ s peacemaking life, death, and ongoing ministry through the Spirit, Jesus followers are now one. RUTH PADILLA DEBORST is a Costa Rica based scholar. She and her husband, James, lead the Center for Interdisciplinary Theological Education (CETI). Meditate on Ephesians 2:13 16 in light of Jesus sacrifice on the cross. What does it mean that Christ is our peace? 44 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

47 HOLY TUESDAY WHAT S HIS BECOMES OURS Martin Luther preached: Just as a bridegroom possesses all that is his bride s and she all that is his for the two have all things in common because they are one flesh so Christ and the church are one in spirit. In this joyful exchange, our sin with its consequent death and damnation becomes Christ s, while Christ s righteousness becomes ours (1 Cor. 1:30). Righteousness is not something that we generate from within ourselves and then offer to God. Righteousness is something that God gives to us and I HAVE BEEN this is exactly why we may trust in and grow to love God. CRUCIFIED WITH The Spirit s work is to bring the crucifixion and CHRIST AND I resurrection of Jesus Christ to bear on our own biographies and circumstances, beyond all limitations of time NO LONGER LIVE, and space. The Spirit says to you, to me, to everybody: BUT CHRIST While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. LIVES IN ME. 5:8), and so the Father promises to forgive us all our sins, grant us Christ s own righteousness, and raise us GALATIANS 2:20 up to new life in the heavenly kingdom. How do I know that I really have faith in the promise (Rom. 4:5)? Thankfully, the answer lies with God. For it is Christ who does the believing in and for me, much as Paul says: I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20). Christ dwells in me, and so the Father judges me as righteous not as a legal fiction but as a truth, because the Father has truly given me Christ s own righteousness, and through the Spirit, I have received it. In a right understanding of justification, there is no competition between the faith in Christ and the faith of Christ. They are the same reality. SARAH HINLICKY WILSON is the editor of Lutheran Forum and a visiting professor at the Institute of Ecumenical Research. Contemplate Romans 3:22 24, 1 Corinthians 1:30, and Galatians 2:20. Consider: What does it mean to you that Jesus is your righteousness? 45

48 HOLY WEDNESDAY HE HUMBLED HIMSELF He humbled himself, so Paul rightly describes Jesus death on the cross (Phil. 2:8). Today we view the word humble as a virtue, and we often mean by this term someone who is self-effacing, not seeking the limelight but willing to do lowly tasks. But Jesus death was not humble in that sense; rather it was humiliating. Crucifixion degrades and dehumanizes its victim. The body is stretched out on a cross, stripped of clothing and dignity, exposed, naked, shamed, disgraced. Isaiah describes the Suffering Servant as one from whom people hide their faces, as one rejected and despised (Isa. 53:3). The whipping and scourging prior to the crucifixion render the victim subhuman, and the weakened body affixed to the wood is a laughingstock, a fool HE HUMBLED to be mocked. Such a man, the crowd says, is not one of us. Yet Paul makes clear in the Christ hymn (Phil. 2:6 11) HIMSELF BY that Christ is indeed one of us. For love s sake, Jesus Christ BECOMING embraced humanity and became a man. Hebrews tells us OBEDIENT TO that Jesus endured the cross, scorning its shame (Heb. DEATH EVEN 12:2). He chose humiliation the unspeakable torture and DEATH ON degradation of the cross to condemn the world s value A CROSS! system that privileges some and humiliates others. God shows no partiality, he is unimpressed by ethnicity, social status, or wealth (Acts 10:34 35; Eph. 6:9). On the cross, PHILIPPIANS 2:8 Christ gathered to himself the soul-destroying shame that afflicts this evil age and defeated its power. Christ endured the nails driven into his hands and feet, that he might redeem a people to be his hands and feet in humble service to others. LYNN H. COHICK, a professor of New Testament, serves as interim dean of humanities and theological studies at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Meditate on Philippians 2:6 11 and Hebrews 12:2. How does what Jesus endured on the cross deepen your understanding of Christ s humility? 46 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

49 MAUNDY THURSDAY GOD OF MERCY In Matthew 26, Jesus faces impending betrayal. He retreats to a garden called Gethsemane. This is one of the rare occasions in the entire New Testament when we learn something of Jesus mental state. In verse 37, Matthew tells us Jesus began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed (NKJV used throughout). Jesus asks the Father three times, Is there any way other than MY SOUL IS what s ahead? OVERWHELMED What are we witnessing when we see Jesus face WITH SORROW down on the ground, sorrowful and troubled, asking TO THE POINT the Father if he must drink the cup of God s judgment? When we watch Jesus, we see the moving and dynamic OF DEATH. unveiling of the Father s heart. The Father is not remote and unmoved. The Father is sorrowful and troubled too. MATTHEW 26:38 Weeping and sorrowful, Jesus dramatically reveals to us what is meant in 2 Corinthians 1:3 when God is called the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. The One who cries out in the garden is not just the incarnate Son of God. Through the Son, the Father shows us his mercy and love. Through the Son, the Father says, I know what it s like, and he enters our suffering and takes it as his own. Because the Son suffered, we have both a sympathetic High Priest and an understanding and sympathetic heavenly Father. The no that Jesus receives is the yes to our salvation. The silent no reveals the Father s love for us. At Gethsemane, we see the Father s compassionate heart in a prostrate Son. THABITI M. ANYWABWILE is a pastor at Anacostia River Church in Washington, DC, and the author of Captivated: Beholding the Mystery of Jesus Death and Resurrection. Reflect on Matthew 26:36 46 as well as 2 Corinthians 1:3 4. How does the scene in Gethsemane reveal God s compassionate and merciful nature? Adapted excerpt from Captivated: Beholding the Mystery of Jesus Death and Resurrection by Thabiti M. Anyabwile, 2014 (Reformation Heritage Books). Reprinted by permission of the publisher, all rights reserved. 47

50 GOOD FRIDAY JESUS CRY OF VINDICATION When the Jesus film is screened in cultures that have never heard of Jesus, viewers often love the movie and get completely wrapped up in the story. But the crucifixion comes as an utter shock. Many audiences jump up and cry out in protest. This can t be! The crucifixion of Jesus has always been profoundly disturbing. For me, what s most troubling is not the unjust trial, how the crowd turns against Jesus, or how his disciples abandon him. The most troubling part is one line. Mark 15:34: JESUS CRIED OUT Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? ( My God, my God, IN A LOUD VOICE, why have you forsaken me? ) This line horrifies me. It calls into question the very nature of God. Is ELOI, ELOI, LEMA God the kind of God that turns his back on his Son? SABACHTHANI? I find it interesting that Matthew and Mark tell (WHICH MEANS us some of the hearers misheard Jesus. Have we, too, MY GOD, MY GOD, misunderstood this cry from the cross? WHY HAVE YOU Here s the key biblical insight that changed how FORSAKEN ME? ) I read this passage. It s a simple historical fact about how Israelites cited their Scriptures. The way they referenced a passage was to quote it, especially the MARK 15:34 first line. So when Jesus said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? he expected his hearers to catch the literary allusion to Psalm 22 and to think of the whole psalm: [I am] scorned by everyone.... All who see me mock me.... All my bones are out of joint.... They divide my clothing among them and cast lots for my garment (vv. 6, 7, 14, 18). Is Jesus saying I have been forsaken by God? No. He s saying, Today Psalm 22 is fulfilled in your hearing. I am the embodiment of this psalm. Psalm 22 is not a psalm of forsakenness. It starts out that way, but it shifts to confidence in God s deliverance: For he has not despised or scorned 48 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

51 PHOTO BY MARC VOLK / GETTY IMAGES the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help (v. 24). Jesus is declaring: Right now, you are witnessing Psalm 22. I seem forsaken right now, but my death is not the end of the story. God has not despised my suffering. I will be vindicated. The Lord has heard my cry. Because death is not the end. Future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it! (vv ). AL HSU is senior editor for IVP books at InterVarsity Press. This article is adapted from a sermon preached at Church of the Savior in Wheaton, Illinois, where he serves on the vestry as senior warden. Read Psalm 22 alongside Mark 15: How does this psalm enrich your understanding of Jesus crucifixion? What does Jesus quotation of this psalm reveal to you about God? 49

52 HOLY SATURDAY NEVER FORSAKEN It must have been devastatingly dark for the disciples on Holy Saturday. Earlier, in Gethsemane, all the disciples deserted him and fled (Matt. 26:56). On Friday, Jesus was executed. Now it was the day after the crucifixion. The day that the disciples had scattered, each to his own home (John 16:32). Each likely absorbed in his own grief, bewildered and afraid. It must have seemed like evil had won and that God was horrifyingly absent. Jesus had warned them about these things many times (see Matt. 16:21; John 12:20 36), but A TIME IS the disciples hadn t comprehended his words. In COMING AND IN their sorrow on that Saturday, did they remember the unchanging and faithful character of God? Did FACT HAS COME they grasp that the God of the universe, the Maker WHEN YOU WILL of heaven and earth, would never abandon his work? BE SCATTERED, I know what it is to be absorbed in one s own EACH TO YOUR grief. Years ago, everything important to me unraveled in a period of months. My marriage, my health, OWN HOME. and my children all seemed headed for disaster. In my sorrow, I felt utterly alone and abandoned even JOHN 16:32 by God. I wanted to make sense of what God was doing, but I couldn t. My story was still unfolding. On Holy Saturday, the disciples were also in the middle of a story. On that day, everything looked hopelessly lost. They didn t understand that the very next day, God would bring about the greatest, most spectacular event in history. Jesus would rise from the dead, just as he said. Everything the Lord had foretold would come true. God remained faithful to his word; his purposes could not and would not be thwarted. In our lives as well, God is faithful. He is faithful to his word and to his plans. He is doing immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20). At the time, we may not understand it, but our sorrow will 50 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

53 PHOTO BY CRAIG WHITEHEAD / UNSPLASH one day turn to joy (John 16:20). God had not forsaken the disciples and he will never forsake us. His steadfast love will endure forever (Ps. 136). We are each in the middle of a story. We must trust God as it unfolds, knowing that he is ever faithful. As we rely upon God s peace to overcome our doubts, we can rest on the rock-solid promise that because of the Cross, our story will have the happiest ending of all. One day we will see how our individual story fits into the magnificent story that God has been writing since the foundation of the world. VANEETHA RENDALL RISNER is the author of The Scars That Have Shaped Me: How God Meets Us in Suffering. She is a regular contributor to Desiring God. Reflect on John 16: Why is it significant that Jesus said this to the disciples prior to his crucifixion? When have you experienced the faithfulness of God in the midst of bleak circumstances? 51

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55 EASTER SUNDAY I AM THE RESURRECTION KEN SHIGEMATSU PHOTO BY MISSION MEDIA / LIGHTSTOCK My last words to my father, in what would prove to be his final lucid moments before he died, were simply I love you (aishite imasu). But his last words were I am happy (ureshii desu). Easter means that death whether it s our own or the passing of a loved one is an occasion for profound sadness, but also deep gratitude even a time when we can say, I am happy. In John 11, Jesus received news that his friend Lazarus was very sick. When he finally arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had already died. Jesus said to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? (vv.25 26). Jesus approached the tomb and said, Lazarus, come out! (v. 43). And Lazarus came out in his grave clothes. The raising of Lazarus from the dead was a glimpse of something else that was to come. Jesus was nailed to the cross, absorbing our sins so that we could be forgiven and made clean in God s sight. And on that first Easter morning, God raised Jesus from the dead, conquering death. This is why the apostle Paul could say, Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (1 Cor. 15:55). 53

56 The poet George Herbert wrote, Thy curse being laid on him, makes thee accursed.... Spare not, do thy worst. I shall be one day better than before. Herbert is saying to death that death s curse has been laid on Christ our sins and the judgment for those sins, including eternal death, were laid on Christ on the cross (see Gal. 3:13). Because Christ took the curse for us, death is cursed. Because he voluntarily entered the grave, we can come out. Because he was made ugly on the cross, we can be I AM THE made dazzlingly beautiful. RESURRECTION C. S. Lewis said, He will make the feeblest AND THE LIFE. and filthiest of us into a... dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we JOHN 11:25 cannot now imagine, a bright, stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) his own boundless power and delight and goodness. If it s true that one day we ll be dazzling, everlasting splendors, then yes, as we face death, we will experience profound grief, tears, sadness, and loss. But as was true of my dad, we can also say, I am happy. And in the midst of searing pain and poignant loss, we can also say, I am grateful. If God raised Jesus from the dead, then we can believe him when he says, I will also make a new heaven and a new earth. If God will one day renew this Earth, then every prayer, every act of love and kindness, every work of art or music inspired by the love of God, every act of care for the earth, will somehow find its way into the new creation that God will one day bring about. The smallest acts of kindness become infinite. If there is a resurrection not only of our bodies but of the world to come, then Easter makes a world of difference. The true message of Easter is that there is a world to come beyond death, where our greatest potential will be fulfilled and where we will be united with loved ones. If we entrust our lives to the Christ, God will raise us one day from the dead. He will not only make us new, but he will also renew this earth. 54 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

57 Jesus said in John 11:25 26, I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus asks us, as he asked Martha, Do you believe this? If so, you can answer, I am happy and I am deeply grateful. KEN SHIGEMATSU is pastor of Tenth Church in Vancouver, BC, and the author of God in My Everything. FOR REFLECTION Ken Shigematsu begins by discussing the painful loss of his dad. When have you experienced the sorrow of loss? Shigematsu says, Easter means that death whether it s our own or the passing of a loved one is an occasion for profound sadness, but also deep gratitude even a time when we can say, I am happy. Does this assertion relate to your own experience of loss? Why or why not? Read John 11:1 44, focusing especially on verses What do you imagine Martha felt or thought as Jesus said this to her? How would you explain the significance of Jesus claim in your own words? Reflect on John 20:1 18. Consider, also, Paul s insights into the significance of Jesus death and resurrection in Colossians 2:13 15 and 1 Corinthians 15:20 21, How do these passages add to your understanding of Jesus identity as the resurrection and the life? Shigematsu asserts The true message of Easter is that there is a world to come beyond death... He will not only make us new, but he will also renew this earth. Contemplate Revelation 21:1 4 and reflect: How is the renewal of the created world tied to Jesus assertion, I am the resurrection? In your view, how is it tied to the meaning of Easter? Pray, praising the resurrected Christ for his victory over sin and death. 55

58 IDEAS FOR FAMILIES Grow in faith as a family by journeying toward the Cross together. Select a few of the ideas below that best fit the ages and interests of your children. Use colorful oven-bake polymer clay or air-drying modeling clay to make crosses together. Set them up as decorations in your home during this season. Teach younger children about fasting by doing a favorites fast together. Write Favorites on a large cardboard box, then have each family member put a favorite item (such as a toy, stuffed animal, book, and so on) in the box for the duration of your fast. Use the opportunity to discuss the purpose of fasting in an age-appropriate way. If you have older children and teens, do a media fast as a family. For a designated period of time, turn off television, social media, and other forms of electronic entertainment. Enjoy other family experiences together instead, such as walks outdoors, games, art, and so on. Yeast pretzels and hot cross buns both have traditional ties to Lent and Easter. Research their symbolism, then make a batch to enjoy together. 56 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

59 As a family, reflect on or memorize these verses in the weeks leading up to Easter: Romans 5:8, Isaiah 53:5, John 3:16, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:8, John 11:25. Invite family members to write the verses on windows with dry-erase markers to create stained glass or to illustrate each verse on paper with colorful pictures or symbols. Visit an art museum to view sacred art depicting the Crucifixion. (Alternately, find classic art images online.) Discuss the feelings and ideas each artist may have been seeking to convey. Reflect on the emotions the art elicits in family members. Create a family journal for Lent. Invite each member of your family to fill in a page of the journal once a week. Family members could write prayers, draw pictures or symbols, record Bible verses, or note other spiritual reflections and prayer requests. As a family, read one of the Gospels in its entirety over the course of several weeks. Identify a few favorite Lenten and Easter hymns to learn as a family, such as And Can It Be?, O Sacred Head Now Wounded, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, or Up From the Grave He Arose. Invite each family member to share a favorite line from the lyrics and explain why it is meaningful to them. Use a gem or prism to teach your children what a facet is, then use the experience to discuss the many facets of God s character. In an age-appropriate way, explore facets of God s character revealed in and through the Cross. Build expectation for the coming celebration by creating a paper chain together that marks the days until Easter Sunday. Each day, remove one link of the chain. Traditionally, the Sundays preceding Easter are considered feast days, not days of fasting. Discuss the significance of Sunday being a weekly celebration of Christ s resurrection. Make one or more Sundays extra special by celebrating with cake, music, or a favorite family meal. 57

60 IDEAS FOR GROUPS Use these ideas to supplement the discussion questions throughout this devotional to plan your small-group meetings. ICEBREAKERS What was your experience of Lent and Easter as a child? As an adult? When you think about the Cross, what words or images immediately come to mind? What originally convinced you to follow Jesus? What convinces you today? Reflect on the past year: How has God brought new life? Consider the present: What signs of new life to come do you observe? ACTIVITIES Fast together. You could either all fast from a meal on a certain day at a certain time, or you could individually choose something to fast from for the season of Lent. Debrief afterward to share what you learned about yourselves and God through this practice. Choose your next study. Choose a Bible study for your group based on a character trait of God that repeatedly came up during Lent. 58 CHRISTIANITYTODAY.COM LENT 2018

61 Focus on Jesus mission. Jesus came to begin ushering in the kingdom, calling us to carry on that mission today. Discuss what your group can do to carry out Jesus mission in your community. Find time this season to serve together or build relationships with people who are far from God. Celebrate together. Easter is a great time to reflect on the past year and celebrate the new life God has been bringing into your lives. Throw a group party that celebrates the Resurrection. Sing songs, make a cake, and share stories of how God has transformed, healed, and taught group members over the last year. WORSHIP AND PRAYER Spend a meeting praying for needs. Pray through the needs of your group members, the needs of your church, or the needs of your community. You ll grow closer together and model the importance of bringing requests to God. Light prayer candles. Pairing a physical activity with prayer can be powerful. Arrange votive candles in the form of a cross and provide a lighter or matches. Invite group members to pray aloud, especially remembering those in need of salvation, and ask them to light a candle after they ve prayed. To make this simple enough for everyone, direct group members to pray sentence prayers. Repeat until all the candles are lit. Pray your thanks. Assign to each group member a different character trait of God that is displayed through the Cross (love, justice, empathy, and so on). Provide markers and paper, and invite group members to visually represent the trait they were assigned. After a few minutes, have each person present their pictures, and pray together as a group, thanking God that he is each of these things. 59

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63 If you want your kidz to develop elop a life of daily Bible reading, it has to be fun! Zonderkidz Bibles are designed to bring the truth of God s Word to your children in exciting ways that appeal to their sense of adventure. Pick one of these exciting Bibles and Watch your kids journey day after day into God s message for them! LEARN MORE AT: ZONDERVAN.COM

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