His love is a thing of beauty, like a rose within our soul, that blesses as it comforts broken hearts and makes them whole.
Though love may seem so fragile, like a petal on the wind. His love is rooted in the Rock, whose strength will never end.
This early Easter morning, I urge you to take this gift of love, for it is unending and truly from above. For His tomb is now empty, just like you may find your heart, but Jesus can fill it with His love and your new life can start.
Jesus had made it very plain from the beginning…He had predicted His death & resurrection not once, not twice, but three times to His disciples.( Matthew 16:21, Matthew 17:22, Matthew 20:17-19) And with each time He gave more details…and with each time the Disciples struggled to grasp what He truly meant. This day would find them hiding out from the public eye. Afraid that the Jewish Leaders would be so emboldened from the death of Jesus that they would come looking for them to execute also. So there they sat…shell-shocked from the last 24 hours as they watched in horror as their beloved Master was brutally beaten beyond recognition and nailed to a cross to die. And as time drug on that day, fear gave way to doubt as the shouts from the crowd still rang in their ears as they taunted Jesus to “Come down from the cross and save Yourself!” Oh, how they had secretly wished He would do just that, for they had seen Him raise others from the dead…but could Jesus do it for Himself? But fear & doubt had been plunged into hopelessness when Jesus uttered those last three words from the cross, “It is finished.” (John 19:30) For they could only believe that it was a cry of defeat rather than a shout of victory & completion. And so they waited…trying to hold out hope of the promised resurrection.
The two other men that were crucified that day with Jesus were convicted bandits, highway robbers, and thieves…found guilty of malicious and serious offenses against the public…and now were facing the consequences of their reprehensible acts. And as all three hung there waiting for death we see two very different responses from them. One thief kept hurling insults at Jesus…rejecting Him and the Gospel Message He represented. (Luke 23:39) But the other thief closely listened and watched Jesus on that Cross and made the decision to trust in Him as his Savior – uttering those faith filled words, “Remember me when You come into Your Kingdom.” (Luke 23:42) Even today there are still only two possible responses to Jesus…we can either reject or trust in Him. That’s because we are all sinners in need of a Savior, and it’s never too late to repent and accept the free gift of Salvation.
We find Jesus in the Upper Room with His disciples as He ministers His selfless love…illustrated in this moving scene of Him performing the most menial of tasks…washing their feet. It was an object lesson, breaking all social norms, as Jesus willingly took on the role…modeling lowliness, meekness, and a life of surrender…of which they were obligated to follow. For Peter though, with all his impulsiveness, he objected vigorously, but Jesus reminds him in John 13:6-10 that bathing of the whole body symbolizes justification…a work accomplished by God for the Believer once and for all. While the washing of feet symbolized sanctification…an ongoing and ever increasing work of God performed for the Believer daily…a Spiritual cleansing & renewal of the heart to remain in fellowship with God.
This account is in all four Gospels with a few different details… but essentially the same premise. Jesus is at a home reclining at the table and eating dinner when a woman slips in, breaks a flask of nard, and pours it on Him. Those in the dining room with Jesus were shocked & dismayed at her reckless behavior of a year’s worth of salary. But Jesus commends her for her great sacrificial love and a giving up of everything…just as Jesus Himself would be doing in the next few days…His body broken & poured out for mankind as the ultimate sacrifice of love.
Here Jesus is teaching in the Temple courts days before He will be crucified by the same crowds that will demand His execution. The people couldn’t put their finger on it, but there was something definitely different about the way Jesus taught. It wasn’t anything like the Scribes who were supposed to be skilled in explaining the Law and interpreting God’s Word for them. Rather, Jesus spoke as an expert in the Doctrine… teaching them in a manner that that clearly felt like He had been commissioned with the dominion, power, and right to speak of such things. His authoritative & authentic teaching even caught the Temple Officers off guard when they can back empty-handed and proclaimed in John 7:45-46, “No one ever spoke like this man!”
To the people in the Court of Gentiles, Jesus was some crazed man overturning tables and claiming that the Temple was somehow His. To the merchants and money-changers, He was destroying their very profitable commerce of conveniently offering sacrificial animals & and acceptable currency to worshippers who had travelled from a distance. Most only saw Him as a nuisance and annoyance…not connecting what He was saying to Old Testament prophecy. Jesus was in fact carefully fulfilling prophecy from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Malachi in rebuking those who had turned the Temple into a market…using it for everything other than what it was meant to be.
As Jesus rode slowly into Jerusalem that Palm Sunday He was fulfilling both the Old Testament prophecy of His triumphal entry and His forthcoming Messianic reign. But as the crowds gathered, they were looking for short-term results…not even realizing that what Jesus was accomplishing had long-term & eternal consequences. The people wanted freedom from Roman rule…but Jesus was offering freedom from sin & death. (Luke 4:18) As we see by one of His first public appearances where Jesus read from Isaiah 61 to proclaim freedom to the captives. The crowds were envisioning victory by a powerful warrior King riding in on a white stallion, & taking His rightful throne by force. But Jesus entered Jerusalem that day on a donkey, meek and lowly…His victory coming in the triumph over sin & death, in turn, giving us eternal victory. (I Corinthians 15:57) Finally, the crowds were all crying out… Hosanna! Save us!… imploring Jesus to save them from Roman oppression & injustice. But the saving Jesus had come to earth to do encompassed all of mankind’s Salvation… by way of the Cross…and would be found in no one else but in Him. (Acts 4:12)
When the cares & worries of the world are seemly dragging you backwards, remember this…an arrow can only be shot by pulling it backwards. Right now it may seem like life is one step forward followed by two steps back…and waiting on the Lord is the last thing you want to do. But God promises fulfillment of His Word, so we can’t look at our waiting as failure, but rather as a time of equipping & endurance. For just like that arrow, God may be preparing you to be launched forward into something great.
Many times throughout our life we’ll be thrown into difficult situations, with the path ahead unclear and difficult to understand. That’s when we need to trust in the Lord and rely on His faithfulness. We may not be able to comprehend & grasp the story… but even so, we can trust the Author who wrote it. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Jesus is the author and perfector of our faith. He is the creator, sustainer, and finisher of the faith in the hearts of all God’s people. So even when we don’t understand the story, we can be assured that Jesus goes before us as the founder and completer of it.
Safetypinlove 