Good Friday

Matthew 27:32-60

As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"

In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' " In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"

Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.

There were all kinds of reactions, that first Good Friday, to the cross. Simon of Cyrene was forced into service. The Roman soldiers gambled to divide Jesus' clothes. Others hurled insults and accusations at Jesus.

Still, there were those who asked insightful questions, saw the truth of who He was and reached out to minister to Jesus. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. Joseph took the body down from the cross and prepared it for burial after Pilate had Jesus certified as dead.

Why is this day so important? Because of this: Jesus went to the cross and died for you, so God offers you salvation. It's His free gift to you. There are no strings attached, there's no manipulation, there are no gimmicks. All you have to do is humbly receive that gift.

The apostle Paul wrote, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. (Romans 10:9-10)

Jesus' crucifixion warrants a response from each one of us. What will your response to Jesus be today?

RDM

Friday

Psalm 51: 1 – 9
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins

and blot out all my iniquity.


I am imperfect by nature, and I do what is wrong on purpose. Sometimes even I cannot bear the bad things I do – which, although I might do them to others, I really do against God. I cannot change my imperfection or undo my wrong-doings.

But I can call on God when I truly regret the bad that I do, when I honestly suffer under my impurity. And God will give me the gift of deep wisdom (which is the opposite of a sinful nature). Not only that, God will restore me to a clean, pure state that I could never reach by myself. With these great gifts comes unspeakable joy.

A joyful life requires constant connection with God's loving forgiveness.



AL

Thursday

Malachi 1: 6 – 17
"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.

"But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?'

"You place defiled food on my altar.

"But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?'

"By saying that the LORD's table is contemptible. When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the LORD Almighty.

"Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?"-says the LORD Almighty.
Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from your hands. My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty.

"But you profane it by saying of the Lord's table, 'It is defiled,' and of its food, 'It is contemptible.' And you say, 'What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously," says the LORD Almighty.

"When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?" says the LORD. "Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations.

In the streets of Monrovia, Liberia, young men push brightly painted carts with the words “COW MEAT” crudely lettered on the side. For a few cents, you can buy a bite of cooked meat on a toothpick to eat. In a poor African country, without the luxury of USDA food and sanitation inspectors, your bite of “cow meat” might easily be a morsel of dog, monkey, snake, or rat. Buyer, beware!

The prophet Malachi saw the way that priests and worshippers tried to cheat God. Instead of blemish-free, perfect animals, they were trying to pass off lame and sick animals as acceptable sacrifices. Their shoddy offerings were an insult to God and to the One Who would be the perfect sacrifice for sin.

How often have we tried to substitute lazy, “it will do” attitudes in worship for the real “cow meat” of true devotion and respect to a Holy God? This “lame, diseased” offering is an insult to the “great King, the Lord of Hosts.” He takes “no pleasure” in it.

Dear God, please forgive us, for Jesus’ sake. His sacrifice was pure, unblemished, and entirely sufficient. Thank you, Lord Jesus, the perfect Lamb.

DB

Wednesday

Leviticus 1: 1 – 9

The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting. He said, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When any of you brings an offering to the LORD, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.

" 'If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to offer a male without defect. He must present it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting so that it will be acceptable to the LORD. He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. He is to slaughter the young bull before the LORD, and then Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and sprinkle it against the altar on all sides at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He is to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest are to put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. Then Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the burning wood that is on the altar. He is to wash the inner parts and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.

Our God is a God of order. He desires that His people know how to worship, and Leviticus is His instruction manual for worship.

The Israelites understood the difference between holy and common, and they were to learn there was a danger of interacting with the Holy when they were impure. The important lesson for them, as well as us today, was that the blood of the sacrifice played a critical role in cleansing impurity before the sacrifice is offered to a holy God.

Chapter 1 of Leviticus tells us about the burnt offering. First the worshiper was to present himself and his offering before the Lord. Following the slaughter, the blood was thrown on the altar to purify it. Then the animal was burned as a sacrifice, as prescribed by God.

Lent is a time set aside for us to prepare ourselves as an offering to a holy God. We are blemished by sin and only blood can cleanse our impurity. Christ made the ultimate sacrifice and offered His Blood that we might be purified as an acceptable offering before God.

EB

Tuesday

March 10, 2009

Genesis 22: 1 – 14

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"

"Here I am," he replied.

Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you."

Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"

"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.

"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"

"Here I am," he replied.

"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."

Do you ever wonder where the money will come from to pay the next mortgage payment or make the next rent check? Maybe you are staring at the tax forms and wondering, baffled how it came up red … and you have no idea how to turn red to black.

Perhaps you’ve considered doing something, not illegal, but just…um…questionable to make ends meet. (Okay, maybe you have considered something illegal when looking at those bills.)

Abraham was asked to do an awful thing to meet a need. Sin requires a blood sacrifice, and God told him to sacrifice his son. But ultimately, killing Isaac was the wrong thing to do and God, I’m sure, knew it.

But He asked Abraham to come to that place so that Abraham would know that it would never be necessary to do the wrong thing to meet a need because God will always provide. God will provide for you as well.

Monday

Genesis 8: 20 – 9:7

Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

"As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease."

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

"But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.

"Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made man.

"As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."

Noah hadn’t just brought two of each animal onto the ark. He’d also brought seven – or maybe seven pairs – of every kind of animal suitable for sacrifice. All Noah’s doing in the beginning of this passage is offering God some of the animals he’d brought on the ark for that purpose. The sacrifice was little more than an RSVP.

For that, God promises that He’ll never flood the earth again. Then He goes further: He gives Noah and his family everything that lives for their use. All God requires is that they remember that He holds all life: the blood is His.

How does this relate to me? I am – whether figuratively or literally descended from Noah -- to be a good manager of all life under my care. But more importantly, I must remember that all life belongs to God, including mine.

When Noah sacrificed a few animals that God had told him to bring for that very purpose, God blessed him and his family. Lent reminds us that God Himself has always provided the sacrifice – from grain or an animal on the altar to His Son – that brings us life and abundance.