WISDOM WEDNESDAY                                                         

Vol. 1 Issue 8 - 4-13-22

"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 

- II Peter 3:18

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Greetings Church,

Depending on your church and liturgical background this week has spiritual and historical significance. We call this week Holy Week as it leads up from the triumphal procession through to the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The week has much to teach us of how Jesus taught and prepared His disciples for the task He gives them to be His witnesses to the world. It thus gives us encouragement to contemplate how we should prepare to share Jesus to our world.

Over the years I have taught several times on Christ's seven statements from the cross and would like to do so again. Here they are in what is considered their chronological order:

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Luke 23:34

And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Luke 23:43

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”

John 19:26

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Mark 15:34

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”

John 19:28

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

John 19:30

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

Luke 23:46

I would encourage you to read them again and again to begin the process of discernment concerning the Lord's purpose in laying down His life for you and me. Several things leap to my heart. First the focused attention to accomplishing the Father's will, to see the task to its glorious conclusion. Second, to extend the hope of forgiveness to those who had no understanding of their need for it. Thirdly, to live in anticipation for the reception of faith in the paradise of the Lord, the wonderful life of living in the promised presence of Christ. Fourthly, to experience the pain and suffering He endured for the payment for our sin as He took what we deserve to death and yet was victorious over death. Lastly, to let the love and trust Christ had and has in what the Father was doing through Him for us.

All these things and many more can be gleaned from these passages. Passages spoken from a position of being brutally put to death to satisfy a guilty world yet powerfully displaying the ultimate sacrifice for that world. We have the wonderful privilege of knowing these truths and sharing them with our world in our lifetime. May this Easter bolster our faith and faithfulness to tell the wondrous story of redemption through faith in Jesus.

Blessings,

PBS