Lent
April 10, 2022
Scripture Reading: Luke 23:1-49
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, ‘Certainly this man was innocent.’ And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. –Luke 23:44-49
Pictures of death stream into my home from Ukraine, spreading across my thoughts causing me to skip through the sequence of events that led to Jesus’s death—Jesus before Pilate, Jesus before Herod, Jesus Sentenced to Death, The Crucifixion of Jesus. I saw a woman with no more tears to cry telling the reporter, “They killed my grandson.” As she stared at a place on the ground where he must have been found dead along with all his hopes and potential. Why?
This day marks the beginning of what we call Holy Week where we remember the way of the cross. Reading the entire scripture cited above will help us relive the events throughout this week. It is a solemn time. It is a good time for each of us to take stock of our lives and determine what the meaning of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection has for the way we live.
4 For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation,
thy mortal sorrow, and thy life’s oblation;
thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion,
for my salvation.
5 Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee,
I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee,
think on thy pity and thy love unswerving,
not my deserving*.
Prayer: Lord, guide us in finding ways to make our lives can more meaningfully represent the life you modeled for us. Amen.
*Verses 4 and 5 of the hymn Ah, Holy Jesus by Johann Heermann See at https://hymnary.org/text/ah_holy_jesus_how_hast_thou_offended
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.