Lent 8 – Baptism

“When all the people were being baptized,
Jesus was baptized too.”

(Luke 3:21-22)

Reflection:
John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As people came to him to be baptised in the Jordan River Jesus, the sinless, came too.

In His baptism Jesus sealed His complete identity with those whom He came to save – all of humankind. He consecrated Himself to complete and total obedience to God the Father who had sent Him. He stepped into His eternal identity of ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’ Like Isaac He formally began His journey with His father to the mountain on which He would be sacrificed. He offered Himself as the One and only eternal sacrifice. He knew what He was doing.

When He was born the world around Him was largely ignorant of the momentous event. Now as He stepped out Himself the world around Him was again unaware of what was happening. However Someone watched. And as He sent His Spirit He said with what must have been great pride and terrible pain,

“You are my Son, whom I love;
with you I am well pleased.”
(Luke 3:22)

Response:
Watch and pray the journey as you follow the Lord to Calvary.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus I stand in awe of Your commitment and love. Help me to follow You in humility and in the joy of Your love for me. Amen.

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Lent 7 – Sacrifice

“Every day I was with you,
teaching in the temple courts,
and you did not arrest me.
But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”

(Mark 14:49)

Reflection:
Jesus knew that He would meet a violent, premature, yet purposive death. He gives three intertwining reasons for its inevitability.

• The hostility of the religious leaders – He was a threat to their position and prejudices
• The Scriptures prophesied it
• The deliberate choice that He made – He was determined to fulfil what was written of the Messiah

He believed that the Old Testament Scriptures were the inspired word and revelation of God and that they revealed God’s plan and purpose. He was totally committed to doing His Father’s will and to finishing the work that The Father had given Him to do – and He knew what it would achieve. This was His own free choice and resolve. He never departed from it, even when He agonised in the Garden of Gethsemane.

• “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (John 5:19)

• “I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”  (John 12:50)

• “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  (Luke 22:42)

We are eternally blessed because Jesus did not give up but carried His mission through to the very end. In Lent we walk the final stages with Him, watching in humble love and gratitude.

Response:
Resolve to remain committed and faithful to the very end – in the love and strength that God provides

Prayer:

Help me Lord Jesus to continue in the Father’s love, to do His will and to trust His care. Amen.

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Lent 6 – Direction

“He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.”

(Isaiah 53:7)

Reflection:
Jesus knew that He had a purpose and a mission. He also knew what it would involve. He gave His followers three very clear indications of what lay ahead for Him – and which He was not trying to avoid.

• “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31)

• “He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” (Mark 9:31)

• “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” ( Mark 10:33-34)

He emphasized that, in terms of His mission and purpose, He must suffer and that everything written about Him in Scripture must be fulfilled. And when Peter, who had just recognised Him as ‘the Christ’ objected Jesus response was immediate and clear,

“He rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (Mark 8:33)

There was only one way for God’s desire and purpose to be fulfilled. And it would be only on the cross that Jesus would be able to cry, ‘It is finished.’

Response:
Will I allow God’s will in my life?

Prayer:

Father please help me to pray with sincerity that that Your will be done on earth – and in me – as it is in heaven. Amen.

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Lent 5 – Identity and Purpose

“Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”

(Luke 2:49)

Reflection:
When He was twelve years old Mary and Joseph took Jesus to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. After they had left to return home they found that He was not in their company of travellers so they returned to Jerusalem to look for Him. They found Him three days later in the Temple courts, listening to the teachers and asking them questions.

From His response to them it is clear that Jesus already understood a great deal about His identity and purpose.

• Firstly, He spoke of God as ‘My Father’ indicating that He was aware of His special relationship to God.
• Secondly, He felt a compulsion to occupy Himself with His Father’s affairs – He had to be in His Father’s house.
• Thirdly, it shows His awareness that He had a mission and a purpose to fulfil.
• Fourthly, from the fact that He then returned with them to Nazareth and was obedient to them, He knew that the time for action had not yet arrived and He was content to wait for God to call Him out.

We too have a mission and a purpose in life. For most of us it will not be to change the world but to bring light, life and love into our own context. It is important that we too know our identity in God, that we realise that we are concerned with His affairs and that we live and work in His strength and at His direction and pace.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29)

Response:
Check your own priorities and source of identity.

Prayer:

Father, my identity and purpose in life is In You – please help me not to look for it elsewhere. Amen.

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Lent 4 – Shadow of Death

“But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace
was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.”

(Isaiah 53:5)

Reflection:
Holman Hunt painted this picture entitled ‘The Shadow of Death.’ It shows Jesus in the carpenter’s shop, pausing in His work to stretch. As He does so the sun throws His shadow behind Him onto the wall and creates the impression of a crucifixion. Kneeling next to Him His mother is startled by the sudden appearance of the image.

Although it is historically fictitious it captures the understanding that from His birth the shadow of the cross was a part of Jesus life. His death was central to His mission and one day He would turn and face the cross that was forever there.

• “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.” (Isaiah 50:6-7)

• “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51)

His death was central to His mission. His death is a central part of the life and worship of His Church. Without His death on ‘Good Friday’ there would be no Easter Sunday and no hope either for the present or the future.

Response:
Think prayerfully on these things.

Prayer:

Thank You Lord Jesus. You suffered so much for me. Please help me not to take it lightly. Amen.

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(Painting by W.H.Hunt – Manchester City Art Gallery, Manchester}

Lent 3 – Forgiveness

“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins”

(Luke 1:76-77)

Reflection:
John, who was to become the Baptist, had just been born. As the community gathered for the naming ceremony his father Zechariah received back his powers of speech and prophesied over the baby. John’s mission was to go before the Saviour to prepare the way for Him. His message would be that salvation would come only through the forgiveness of sins – and that in Jesus this forgiveness and salvation was a present reality.

In practical terms repentance, although it is vital, is not enough. We may repent but someone – that Someone being God – has to both forgive us and do something to take away from us the guilt and the stain of sin. As the Psalmists pleaded and recognised,

• “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:7)
• “But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.” (Psalm 130:4)

God’s great desire was to save us from our sin and its terrible consequence of eternal separation from Him. Here again His object is stressed in an unmistakeable way. His primary purpose in the gift of His Son Jesus was to provide a salvation through forgiveness. As we shall see this could not happen through His overlooking sin but by facing and dealing with it in a new, remarkable and righteous way. It would take Jesus to the cross.

Response:
Why should my sins be placed on Jesus?

Prayer:

Father, You provided forgiveness and now You invite me to repent! Help me to walk into this great Love. Amen.

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Lent 2 – Saved from sin

“She will give birth to a son,
and you are to give him the name Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”

(Matthew 1:21)

Reflection:
Joseph was understandably upset when he heard Mary’s news – and probably found her explanation impossible to believe. He would have been entitled to break off their relationship, have her publicly branded as an adulteress and very likely stoned to death. It says much for him that instead he ‘had in mind to divorce her quietly.’

However, one night an angel of God appeared to him in what must have been a very powerful and vivid dream. The angel confirmed that Mary’s pregnancy was of God and gave him similar instructions to those that Mary had received. He included these important words,

“because he will save his people from their sins.”

Here was the one and primary reason for the coming of God the Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. This was His over-riding purpose and aim. No matter how important and valuable His other activities and ministries may have been this was the one that was forever foremost in His mind. This was what took Him to the cross.

Response:
Only through Jesus can I be set free from sin

Prayer:

Father against You, and You only, have I sinned. Please forgive me in Jesus Name, Amen.

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Lent 1 – Why Jesus?

“You will be with child and give birth to a son,
and you are to give him the name Jesus.”

(Luke 1:31)

Reflection:
Suddenly it seemed that God was active again. The centuries of silence had ended.

First the angel was sent to Zechariah and now he appeared to Mary. Elizabeth was pregnant with John who would ‘make ready a people prepared for the Lord’. Mary was told that she would bear the Lord Himself – the Son of the Most High. He would be called Jesus, and would be given the throne of David as the One true and eternal King.

The first recognisable steps of a new journey had been taken. God was about to enter the world in a fresh and unforeseen way. He certainly wasn’t what they expected or longed for. He did not come as a mighty leader. He did not become a military conqueror and evict the Roman oppressors. He challenged and offended the religious leaders, associated willingly with the socially unacceptable, taught with new authority, and began in word and deed to reveal aspects of Himself that gave hints of divinity. He was not at all what the people expected. He was not what many of them wanted.

Most people failed to recognise the primary reason for the coming of the Lord. They also failed to recognise their greatest need.

Response:
What is your greatest need? And what would you hope for in a Messiah?

Prayer:

Open my eyes Lord to my truth and to Your Truth so that we may indeed draw closer to each other. Amen.

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Lent Journey

“But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

(Matthew 6:17-18)

Reflection:
In many ways Lent has been trivialised. The true significance of Lent is not in what we give up, even for God, but in the awe-inspiring sacrifice that Christ made for us, and the self –denial and suffering that was involved. Any sacrifice of ours should primarily serve as a reminder of, and association with, that greater sacrifice, and not as a source of personal satisfaction. Scripturally our sacrifice is between God and ourselves and should be kept private.

Lent is also a wonderful opportunity for us to reflect on the holiness and love of God, the enormous blessing and privilege of knowing Him and being known by Him, and the great need for Him in our lives and the life of the world in which we live today. As we journey through Lent and towards Easter we will be doing so as we look at the reason for Jesus Christ’s coming, His primary mission and purpose, and the centrality and significance of the Cross both then and now.

This year you might also like to think of doing a special act of kindness for someone every day – especially for someone with a need. It is also an opportunity for special prayers for the trouble spots of the world, for those suffering and for Christians being persecuted because of their faith. You could focus in on one of these every day at regular intervals.

Prayer:

Father may this time of Lent be of value and significance in our relationship as well as a blessing to others. Amen.

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Ashes

“they would have repented .. in sackcloth and ashes.”

(Matthew 11:21)

In the West Lent starts on Ash Wednesday which this year falls on 18 February. Good Friday is on 3 April and Easter Sunday on 5 April.

The ‘40 days’ of Lent are associated with the 40 days of Jesus fasting in the desert. The 6 Sundays are excluded in the calculation as they are said to represent either the day of rest or the day of Jesus victory over death. For Christians over the ages Lent has been a period of fasting, self-examination and penitence – a time when people are reminded both of their need for salvation, the sufferings and death of Christ on their behalf and the victory of Jesus over sin and death.

In many churches there will be special services on Ash Wednesday to mark the beginning of the Journey to Easter. The theme is Penitence. Ashes will be blessed and used as a symbol of repentance. Many people will go forward to be marked on their forehead with a cross of these ashes. They are normally prepared from the Palm Crosses used on Palm Sunday the previous year.

Prayer:

Father – please help me to accept this opportunity to journey with You every day, and in so doing to draw closer to You. Please shine Your light into my places of darkness and let me know the wonder of Your healing love. Amen.

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