Renew Your Mind

A Pilgrimage to the Cross Walking through Lent with Jesus Easter Sunday April 24 th On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!                   Luke 24: 1-7 Luke began his gospel with women, and with the story of their impossible conceptions. Here we come to the tomb with women again, only to find the impossible has happened again- the place of death has become a place of life, the tomb of sorrow has become a garden of hope, ...

A Pilgrimage to the Cross Walking through Lent with Jesus Saturday April 23 rd Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man,   who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.  The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.                            Luke 23: 50-56 When Pharoahs died, their bodies were laid in a...

A Pilgrimage to the Cross Walking through Lent with Jesus Good Friday April 22 nd It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.  The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.                                     Luke 23: 44-49 It is Good Friday today- for some places, a public holi...

A Pilgrimage to the Cross Walking through Lent with Jesus Thursday 21 st April The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”  The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”  There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.  One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”                                     Luke 23:35-39 If truth doesn’t fit into our worldview, we try our best to neutralize it. Sometimes this is by direct confrontation, as Herod and Pilate tried. This is the stuff of playground battles- ‘My Dad’s car is better th...

A Pilgrimage to the Cross Walking through Lent with Jesus Wednesday 20 th April Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.   Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found...

A Pilgrimage to the Cross Walking through Lent with Jesus Tuesday 19 th April Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”  But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.  A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”    “Man, I am not!” Peter replied.  About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”   Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me...

A Pilgrimage to the Cross Walking through Lent with Jesus Monday 18 th April While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?’                                              Luke 22: 47-48 Jesus’ journey to the cross is nearly over. It’s as if we are watching the final scenes of a play, and what began as a sprawling story, rambling over the hills and beaches of Galilee with eager crowds of five thousand, now narrows in focus and intensity. The stage is black, and a spotlight highlights the action. In the action, and actors, of Jesus’ final hours, this spotlight will reveal truth and deception; men cl...