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Monday, April 5, 2021
“Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” —Luke 24:26
Whenever I catch myself starting a sentence with “God must,” I pause and think about how to adjust or rephrase what I’m intending to say. Because God is perfectly free. There’s nothing at all that God, strictly speaking must do. Starting a sentence with “God must” is a good indication that I’m not talking about the God revealed in Jesus Christ, but instead I have in mind some kind of false god that is bound by something beyond itself.
And yet these words in Luke 24, from Jesus’ own mouth, refer to his own death as “necessary” (a good translation from the Greek account of Jesus’ presumably Aramaic words).
This doesn’t mean that there were some cosmic rules greater than God that God had to follow, and thus Jesus had to suffer the things he suffered. Rather, Jesus went on to explain to the men he was talking with that throughout the history of Israel, God had been working out this particular plan. God, in absolute freedom, chose to work out his rescue plan for creation in this way. Jesus’ suffering was necessary based on the plan that God had put into action; this was the Father’s will, carried out by his beloved Son.
Jesus did not go grudgingly to the cross. This was how he demonstrated his love for us, by suffering and dying and rising in victory over sin and death. Alleluia!
Friday, April 2, 2021
Today’s reflection is written by Deacon Karen Katamay.
“Christ is our peace.” —Ephesians 2:14
“Christ is our peace.” This short passage is a wonderful encapsulation of what Jesus gifted to us through his life, death, and resurrection. I invite you to also read the rest of the second chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, because the whole chapter summarizes the message of how God unites us and reconciles all of us through the cross. And the cross is the theme for this Good Friday—the cross where Jesus hung, condemned for the sins of the world, and died, so that we might live, before rising again, defeating death itself. How can we ever fully appreciate his sacrifice for us? How can we ever fully understand his willingness to suffer and die for us? He, who was without sin, dying for us sinners?
I would also like to share with you verses 4-7 of the second chapter of Ephesians: “But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
It may be hard today to associate the violent suffering and death of Jesus with a message of peace, but it is precisely because of what Jesus did for us that we can have peace, knowing our sin does not condemn us and that God forgives us and loves us. Our Redeemer lives, and what comfort and peace that sweet message is! Amen.
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” —Luke 23:34
I’d like to think that I’m pretty good at forgiving people. Even when I’ve been really hurt by someone, with a little bit of time and distance, I find that I can let go. I just don’t like holding grudges. I think some of it has to do with my commitment to following Jesus, but when I look at how Jesus talks about forgiveness (for example: Matthew 18:21-22) and how he lives out forgiveness in the verse above, I can’t help but see that I have a long way to go before I’m really living like Jesus.
See, while I need time and distance to be able to forgive those who really hurt me, Jesus is ready to do it before he’s even suffered the full extent of what is to come. Remember, it’s after this prayer to his Heavenly Father that the people and soldiers mock him and it will be hours more before he takes his final breath. Jesus is extending forgiveness before he has even experienced the full brunt of humiliation and pain to come (a prayer of forgiveness that extended from that moment all the way out to today and until he comes again!).
Lord, may we embrace the forgiveness you offer so that so that we can give glory to you, by becoming more forgiving. Amen.
