Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Lenten Readings: John 18

Lenten Readings: The two-year Bible reading plan puts the Gospel accounts of Luke and John right between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Whether you're doing the reading plan or not, you can follow along on the blog and read daily meditations based on the accounts of Jesus, whose life and death we remember and cherish during this season of Lent. Check back every day starting on February 14 and until Easter Saturday.

Wednesday, March 28, 2018
READ John 18
MEDITATE on John 18:6, "When Jesus said to them, 'I am he,' they drew back and fell to the ground." Why did Judas' group who came to arrest Jesus fall to the ground before Jesus?

REFLECT
This entire chapter is comical: a mob comes to arrest Jesus but at the confirmation of his identity, they fall down. God shows how powerful He is over people, and it is a reminder to us that Jesus went to the cross by His own will and under His own power. This mob can only arrest Jesus...because he lets them!

And they can only crucify Him because He lets them. The trial is a mock trial - Jesus is innocent! - but Jesus is sent to the cross anyway. It's not His sin; it is our sin that nailed Him to that cross.

Remember, God saved us this way because it was required. A holy God cannot not punish sin somehow, so the resolution to the tension between His love toward us and His holiness is the grace of the cross. So Jesus goes and gives His life that a holy God would be able to live in restored relationship with a redeemed sinful humanity.

This Passion Week let the love of Christ come through and remind  you that God willingly sacrificed His own Son for us.

PRAY
Pray for recognition of God's sovereignty and Lordship over our lives. He loved us willingly. Pray for us to respond to God's love. And pray for three people who do not know Christ as Savior.

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