Fifth Monday in Lent through Palm Sunday

Fifth Monday in Lent: Righteousness Needed

Jesus is all about bringing us righteousness yet we are too worldly focused to think we have much of a need for righteousness. Most of us think we need healing or exciting miracles. We might try to get a little righteousness by going to church on Sunday and giving some spare change to a beggar.

God sees the bigger picture and knows that there is nothing which we are more bankrupt than righteousness. He sees that we are totally incapable of getting the righteousness we need through our own actions, so He sent Jesus to give us His righteousness through His sacrificial work on the cross.

Lent is a season of repentance and preparation for the Easter celebration. No matter how sacrificial your Lenten fast, it could never be enough to earn your righteousness. I have been practicing Lent for  years, and every year at the end of my fast I come face to face with how far I am from righteousness.

Some of the first recorded words of Jesus in the gospels are spoken to John the Baptist after he questioned baptizing Jesus. Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. (Matthew 3:15) There is no question that Jesus’ purpose on earth was to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus came to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

The Lenten season is a good time to focus our hearts on the righteousness we need. Understand that if you take up a Lenten fast, the purpose is not to make you feel more righteous than others who do not observe the season. The purpose is to bring to your awareness your great need for righteousness.

Ash Wednesday’s service reminded us that from dust we came and to dust we will return. We cannot attain immortality on our own. We cannot attain righteousness on our own. We are covered only through Jesus’ righteousness. He gives it to us—the breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6:14) and robes of righteousness (Rev 7:14; 22:14).

The Lenten season focuses on why Jesus needed to come to earth, die, and rise again to bring us righteousness. We are desperate for righteousness yet we fail to recognize righteousness as essential for our souls. Lent opens our heart, mind and spirit to why God sees righteousness as so essential.

Fifth Tuesday in Lent: Humbly Repent

What does it mean to humbly repent? During Lent we prepare ourselves for Easter by considering our sins. How does that affect us? Are we excited to finally have a reason to sit and ponder our sins? Are we paralyzed by shame and hopelessness? Do we crumble; thinking: “There’s no way out.” Are we glad that our sins aren’t as bad as they used to be? Or do we humbly repent?

I’ll be the first to admit that confession is not my highest spiritual priority. God is constantly trying to help me see how beautiful repentance is; but I continue to ignore His gift. I would rather not think about my sins.

Romans 2:4 ask:

“Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?”

Yes, I do. I show contempt for the riches of God’s kindness, tolerance and patience on a regular basis. That is why I am grateful for a season like Lent that focuses on repentance. The Israelites had a similar practice before Passover as they cleared their homes of yeast. Yeast represented sin in their lives. During Lent I am asked to consider my sins. At our church our Sunday services during Lent focus on repentance at the very beginning of our community worship, so there’s no getting around the value of repentance during Lent for me.

I think one of the reasons I avoid repentance is that I don’t humbly repent. It is my natural instinct to repent only of things that I have a pretty good idea that I can stop doing. There aren’t that many of those, so my list isn’t so long. When I humbly repent, I sit with the reality of the sins that I recall and consider the reality that there are many more that God knows that I can’t even see (that’s how deceitful my heart is —Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”) I simply put them all out there, and I realize the reality of what is happening in my soul. It is humbling to see that even though I can recognize my sins, I cannot change them. I can see God smiling at this point. He knows I’m getting somewhere now. I feel like I’m a slave to sin, but then I remember that Jesus’ shed blood brought me victory over sin and means that I don’t have to remain a slave to sin. Now Jesus is smiling. Next, I tell God that I am fully aware of my sin (as much as He wants me to be aware in this moment), and I let Him know that I am powerless over my sin. The Holy Spirit is delighted to be the power I need to humbly repent, and the whole Trinity experiences joy. The angels join in too. Luke 15:7:

“I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

Humbly repenting is true repentance. Are you missing out on this experience too? Do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience? It is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. It is truly a beautiful experience to humbly repent.

Fifth Wednesday in Lent: The Darkness of the Cross

The first action of God in the act of creation was to send light to overcome the darkness that once was our entire universe. In the recreation of souls, God once again sent light to overcome the spiritual darkness that blinds the soul to His great goodness.

From the instant Adam and Eve sinned, a spiritual darkness overcame the souls of men. That spiritual darkness culminated on the Friday of our Lord’s crucifixion. Just as God saw the darkness of the earth in Genesis 1:2:

“Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the water, so Jesus saw the darkness in man’s souls when he was arrested in the Garden.”

Luke 22:52-53:

“Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him. Am I leading a rebellion that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”

As Jesus’ human body—beaten, tortured and naked—hung on the cross of wood, God sent darkness across the whole land from twelve noon until three p.m. when Jesus breathed His last breath. God magnified His Light by sending the darkness. This was a very unusual darkness. The darkness was a metaphor for the spiritual reality that was taking place. There was one Roman Centurion who received the message of the darkness and could see by the way Jesus died that He was the Son of God.

The One who created the sun to give us light and energy caused it to stop shinning, fully exposing the darkness of the souls of men (Luke 23:45). The darkness that surrounded the cross was a message to all gathered there and to all who read about the events of that day. God showed us the darkness of this event in many ways. The Gospels tells us graves were opened, and the curtain in the temple tore from top to bottom at that moment in time.

None of us is immune from the darkness of our souls. God created a sun to give us light and energy to live on the earth. God has also sent His Son into the darkness of our souls to be the light and energy our souls were created to need.

A Roman Centurion received the message God sent through the darkness that day, but the Pharisees and elders seemed to miss the message once again. Do you receive the message of the darkness of the cross? Do you recognize the darkness in your soul and let Christ’s light in?

Fifth Thursday in Lent: The Power of the Bleeding Love of God

The power of the bleeding love of God is a phrase I read in a book by N. T. Wright (Following Jesus, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994, p. 19-20). This phrase speaks so powerfully during this Lenten season. When someone is near death, bleeding and broken like Jesus was, we think of them as powerless. Yet, the period of time that Jesus spent bleeding on the cross was the most powerful time in all of human history. When God bled, the world was transformed.

The bleeding love of God—it is almost palpable when you describe it that way. The world had never known what real love was all about until then. There is no greater love and indeed no greater power. Power is love and love is power. These words dance in my mind and leave me at a loss to give further explanation for them. This phrase attempts to describe the indescribable.

I am not alone in my inability to express so great a reality. Many wiser and more spiritual people than I have been silenced by the truth of the cross. St. John Chrysostom was called Chrysostom, which means the golden mouthed one. He would preach over two hours to totally packed churches. Yet, on one particular Holy Cross Day celebration, he barely spoke during his sermon. He put out all the lights in the church and held one small alter candle illuminating first the face of Jesus, and he began to cry. Then he brought the candle to one hand and across the chest of Jesus to the other hand; by the time he got to the wound on Jesus’ side he was fallen over in heaving sobs. He held the candle at Jesus’ feet, and he had no words to speak. His emotions and his silence spoke volumes to the crowd. St. John Chrysostom understood quite well the bleeding love of God and its power to transform the world.

Paul understood this power as it relates to the cross. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, 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. There never has been, and never will be, a more powerful act of God than Jesus’ dying on the cross. More powerful than the creation of the world is the power to transform sinful souls into righteous citizens of heaven. That is what happened when God bled on the cross.

The irony of God bleeding from a cross as a revelation of His greatest power may leave many to conclude that all who seek power in that are fools. I pray that your soul resonates around, above, below, behind and beneath the Cross of Christ. I pray that you know that though others see weakness, hatred and foolishness associated with the Cross of Christ, you see it as the power of God’s love that it is.

Fifth Friday in Lent: A Beautiful Thing

Jesus described what Mary did when she anointed Him with an entire bottle of costly perfume as a beautiful thing. Aware of this, Jesus said to them, Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me (Matthew 26:10).

Have you ever done something that Jesus could describe as a beautiful thing? In that same passage (Matthew 26:1-13) we find two other groups of people responding to Jesus and it is clear that their behavior could not be described as beautiful.

The chief priests and the elders assembled together to talk about a sly way to get rid of Jesus. What they were doing was the opposite of beautiful—it was purely hateful.

Jesus’ closest friends only saw the waste in Mary’s expression of love and devotion. Regrettably, they missed the beauty that was happening before their very eyes.

What does it take to do a beautiful thing for Jesus? I see three messages from this passage.

First, you must submit to God’s righteousness (Romans 10:3). You can’t do a beautiful thing for Jesus unless you fully comprehend what Jesus has done for you. Mary felt so moved by Jesus’ extravagant act of loving her that a drop of perfume (the normal amount for an anointing) was not enough. She was moved to give all of it. She gave what had been costly to her.

Second, you must not get caught up in what others think. Obviously the spiritual leaders and friends of Jesus were not at all pleased by this irrational act on the part of Mary. Mary didn’t seem to let their practical opinions hinder her from doing this beautiful thing. Sometimes other people do not understand why we are giving ourselves to God the way we do. You cannot let the fear of man keep you from following God’s leading.

Third, you need to be sensitive to God’s voice. Why did Mary give this gift? I don’t know if she fully understood. Jesus knew that she was anointing Him for burial. Did she really comprehend what would happen to Jesus at the end of the week? I’m not sure about that, but I’m sure that since this act was so beautiful it did not come from Mary’s heart alone (Phil. 2:13).I believe that she was moved by the Holy Spirit with the idea of taking her precious jar of perfume and breaking the whole bottle open over the head of Jesus. I believe she was led by the Holy Spirit to do this beautiful thing.

Jesus has many beautiful things that we can do for Him. They won’t make sense to others, they will cost us something, but in the end, when you do a beautiful thing for Jesus, it is a thing you never regret.

Fifth Saturday in Lent: The Week That Changed the World Started on a High Note

The last week of Jesus’ life is covered in detail in the four Gospels. Half of John’s gospel covers Thursday through Sunday, highlighting the significance of this world- changing week. For several years I have used the season of Lent to reflect on these last seven days of Jesus’ life on earth and wanted to share some of these reflections with you.

The first day of Holy Week began with Palm Sunday. What a day it was. I love the thought of Palm Sunday. It was the day that the people in Jerusalem seemed to get it right. The people were hailing Jesus as King, but they didn’t totally grasp that He was more than an earthly King. Not even the disciples could fully take in Who He was. John explains, “At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him” (John 12:16).

The crowds knew that He was something great, but they didn’t know Who He really was either. They called Him a prophet from Nazareth in Galilee (Matthew 21:11). They sang praise to Him; they laid their clothes and palm branches for Him to walk over; they followed Him; they were healed by Him; but they didn’t know Him. Some of them were in the same crowd that was easily persuaded to shout “Crucify Him!,” only five days later.

I love the way Jesus told the disciples to get the donkey for His entry into Jerusalem. It is the way He often directs my life. It was an odd request, as He told the disciples to go to a certain village where they would find a certain colt (never ridden, as Zechariah 9:9 prophesied). He instructed them just to go up and untie the colt without asking permission. They weren’t to ask permission, but if they were asked about it, they were to say that the Lord needed it and would send it back when He was done. Their job was obedience. It didn’t have to make sense. When Jesus gives us instructions, we don’t have to concern ourselves with the results; we need to focus on obedience. Like the disciples, we don’t need to question the task; rather, faithfully obey.

Like the rest of the week, there were many ironies. The Pharisees’ statement about him in John 12:19 is an example when they said, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!,” little did they realize that following Jesus would get us where we could never get ourselves. The Pharisees tried to tell Jesus what to do by saying that He should make the crowd stop praising Him as King, but Jesus told them that if they were quiet the stones would cry out (Luke 19:40).

It was a day for rejoicing among the crowds, but sorrow for Jesus as He knew they really didn’t get it. He wept and said about them, “If you, even you, had only known on this day would you bring your peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:42).

You can spend this first week of Lent meditating on the first day of Holy Week found in all four gospels. Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19 contain the events of Palm Sunday. Open your heart, mind, and spirit to God’s personal message to you this week.

Sunday of the Passion, Palm Sunday: A Holy, Holy Week

Palm Sunday ushers in the commemoration of the most amazing reality that ever occurred on earth—the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the holiest week each year in the life of a Christian. Easter Sunday often triples church attendance. Yet, the next week the crowds don’t return.

How does that happen? How does the greatest spiritual truth yield so little transformation and devotion? It happens the same way that it happened during Holy Week. Not much has changed in the hearts of men. You will notice on Holy Week the crowds hailed Jesus as the promised Messiah. They thronged to the Mount of Olives and formed a procession, treating Him like royalty. This is much like the churches which will be filled to capacity on Easter morning. Easter draws the attention of the evening news and changes programing on Sundays from the usual sporting coverage to a religious movie or two. The attention will fade away, and we will all go back to our empty way of life.

Only five days after welcoming Jesus as the Messiah, crowds called for the crucifixion of Jesus. They are mad at Jesus because He did not turn out to be the God they wanted Him to be. They wanted Him to be what they thought He should be. They have no idea that they were in need of a Savior who can take away the entire sin of the whole world in order to be the God they said they wanted.

An empty life, empty of the love of God and the power of the cross, is a much easier life to live. It comes with perks for sure. The emptiness is disguised while we are working toward a goal, building a house, planning for a journey, getting to the next level at work. We don’t feel empty; but if we are not full spiritually, we are empty.

We were created to be full of the fullness of Christ. Ephesian 4:11-13 explains:

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

How does an empty way of life seem so fulfilling? Why do so many come at Easter and leave without longing for less emptiness and more fullness in their lives?

Empty lives run deep. I Peter 1:18 says:

Or you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors.

Empty lives are handed down to us. We come into a world that has become comfortable with emptiness. It is our natural way of life. Unless we are radically changed by the holiness of holy week, we will continue to do our church life in an empty way.

Fullness of Christ is the fullness of hearing and obeying the word of God. You continue to participate in an empty life when you are not aware of God’s love and the gift of Jesus Christ. Jesus lived the fullest life possible and shows us how to live fully as well. He calls us to a life of fullness by becoming fully in touch with God’s holiness and His holy work in our lives. Let’s pray that we show our guests this Easter the difference between an empty life and one that is full of God’s love. Let’s make sure that when we come back to church the first Sunday after Easter we are living a fuller, holier life than the year before.

May you enter a joyful and meaningful Holy Week.

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