Skip to main content

13th Station of the Cross

Our Scripture Readings today are: Psalms 55, 74; Jer 17:5-10, 14-17; Phil. 4:1-13; & John 12:27-36

We come to this Wednesday of Holy Week and stand before the Thirteenth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross

Scripture Reading: "It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit'; and when he had said this he breathed his last."
Luke 23: 44-46

The cross brings us face to face with Jesus' suffering. He was alone -- all his disciples were gone, and only his mother and three women along with John, the beloved disciple seemingly were present. His death was agonizing and humiliating. Normally a crucified man could last for several days on a cross; but the Jewish leaders wanted his death to occur before the beginning of Sabbath. It takes six hours, and he dies mid-afternoon. Pilate publicly heralded Jesus "The King of the Jews" as he died upon the cross, no doubt to irritate and annoy the chief priests and Pharisees.

Do we doubt God's love for us seeing the willing sacrifice of his Son on the cross? Jesus' last words, 'It is finished', express triumph rather than defeat. Jesus bows his head and gives up his spirit. Amazingly, the battle was won. What the Father sent him into the world to do has now been accomplished. Christ offered himself without blemish to God and he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

In the cross of Christ we see the triumph of Jesus over his enemies -- sin, Satan, and death. No wonder, Paul would proclaim, "But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14).

Abbot Rupert of Deutz, wrote in the early 12th century: "The cross of Christ is the door to heaven, the key to paradise, the downfall of the devil, the uplifting of mankind, the consolation of our imprisonment, the prize for our freedom. The Cross of Christ is throne of love. It is the sign of God's mercy and the proof of forgiveness. By his cross Jesus has redeemed our sin and atoned for our punishment. The way to peace, joy, and righteousness in the kingdom of God and the way to victory over sin, despair, and death is through the cross of Jesus Christ.

A Prayer:

"Lord Jesus Christ, by your death on the cross you have won pardon for us and freedom from the tyranny of sin and death. May I live in the joy and freedom of your victory over sin and death. Amen."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Wednesday, Day 25: Christmas Eve - God Loves Us (So We Can Relax)

For Kids: There’s a lot of things we have to do each day. Get up from our sleep, Get dressed, Eat Breakfast, Get ready for School, Listen to the teacher, play with friends, eat our lunch, and after it’s all done, go back home. There’s time to play, Then we eat our supper… And eventually we have to get ready for bed and go to sleep! And then we do it all over again the next day. Sometimes there’s a vacation - like right now - and we get more time to play, to have fun and not have to do work at school. Our parents are good at helping us know what time it is and what we need to do next – even when we don’t want to move on to the next thing.  God is also good at helping us know what time it is, and what is next.  He doesn’t shout at us, or yell, or even scream…he does it peacefully, quietly.  He wants us to understand that he does it, most of all, for us. Christmas can be quite busy and there’s lots of things going on at once…but l...

Joy to the World - Help is On the Way

It’s the first day of Advent– while you prepare for Worship this morning at church take a minute to ask God to direct you through this season that you might be prepared to “receive your King”. In the first week of Advent we celebrate the PROMISE of His Coming. His promise is based on our need. We were made in his image, but there is emptiness in our soul that is the result of the Fallen nature of sin. But why did Jesus come? What in his coming announces God's heart? His desire for us to know and experience? 10 BUT THE ANGEL SAID TO THEM, "DO NOT BE AFRAID; FOR BEHOLD, I BRING YOU GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY WHICH WILL BE FOR ALL THE PEOPLE; 11 FOR TODAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID THERE HAS BEEN BORN FOR YOU A SAVIOR, WHO IS CHRIST THE LORD. GREAT JOY! Did you know that God is Joyful? 1 CHRONICLES 16:23-27 (NASB) 23 SING TO THE LORD, ALL THE EARTH; PROCLAIM GOOD TIDINGS OF HIS SALVATION FROM DAY TO DAY. 24 TELL OF HIS GLORY AMONG THE NATIONS, HIS WONDERFUL DEEDS AMONG ALL THE PEOPLES....

The Gospel of Matthew - Coming: An Exposition and Devotional on the Life of Jesus

Preface  I just finished writing a daily devotional of the book of Matthew with an emphasis on expositing the text and bringing some daily devotional thoughts to the text.  It will be a 40-day journey reading the book of Matthew and the things I wrote within it. Why do it?  Well, first of all, I have loved reading the Scripture for over 50 years now.  I taught the Scriptures on multiple levels from Sunday messages in a Church, to Bible Studies, to Young Adults' discipleship formation, to lectures in a college setting.  I love the Scriptures because it is the Word of God delivered to us from God through human authors, and as Paul reminded Timothy, “it is profitable”. Matthew was a disciple of Jesus, also called Levi, he was not like most of the other disciples. Many of the disciples were middle-class, some commoners, and several were fishermen by trade (which made them middle-class commoners).  We don't know what all of them did, but we do know what Matthew ...