Monday in Holy Week, April 18

Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” John 11:49-50

Thought for the Day: The Centrality of the Cross by the Rev. Doug Richnow

In the daily devotional I read each morning, Oswald Chambers writes, All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all hell is terribly afraid of it, while humans are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning.

The cross and its meaning of death is something even the staunchest of Christians would like to ignore . . . especially us Protestants. Surely, we think, we are not like those Catholics who have their churches filled with crucifixes—that brutal image of Christ still suffering on the cross. No, we Protestants look past the crucifixion and look, rightfully, with joy to the resurrection. So we would rather just skip the pain of Good Friday and go straight from the Hosannas of Palm Sunday to the Alleluias of Easter. But Holy Week won’t let us. Like Chinese water torture it keeps reminding us that the cross is central in our lives as Christians and that without it there is no resurrection, there is no joy of Easter morning, and there is no eternal life. And so we have to make room for it in our understanding of who Christ is and what God did through his death.

But why the cross? This horrible symbol of the most cruel and horrific death a person could ever endure. Why should it be so central to our lives? I think there’s only one answer to that question. And that is, the cross is central of the teaching of the Church because it was central to the mind of Christ. Jesus kept referring to his death as the hour for which he had come into the world. On at least three solemn and separate occasions he predicted the necessity of his suffering, saying the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected and die. And all the New Testament writers understood this focus and they put the death of Christ at the center of their gospels. Most notably we see this in Paul's writings. I decided, he wrote to the Corinthians, to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Then in his letter to the Galatians Paul said, God forbid that I should boast in anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, there is no doubt of the centrality of the cross in the mind of Christ and in the minds of his apostles. And, by and large, the Church has been faithful to this teaching.

Bishop J.C. Ryle, a great evangelical bishop in the Church of England wrote:

If you've not yet found out that Christ crucified is the foundation of the whole volume, you have read your Bible hitherto to very little profit. Your religion is a heaven without a sun, an arch without a keystone, a compass without a needle, a clock without spring or weight, a lamp without oil. Beware, I say again, of Christianity without the cross.

Now, there are many ways in which the cross changes our lives, but I want to give you just one example of how, through the cross and what it means, our lives can be dramatically changed. Specifically, the cross can change our attitude toward suffering.

Nothing baffles the heart and mind of sensitive men and women like undeserved suffering. It might be some unexpected disease, a natural disaster, the collapse of a marriage, depression, unemployment, bankruptcy, addiction, abuse, illness of a child—there are many possibilities. And in our profound grief and pain we ask, But why . . . and why me? Now, the Christian has no glib solution to the problem of suffering, but I would like to make two points, both of which relate to suffering and how the cross can help us see it in a different light.

First, we’re reminded in Hebrews that Jesus learned obedience and was made perfect through what he suffered. And in Romans 5 Paul says:

We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us because God's love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

So, if Christ needed suffering in order to learn obedience and to become perfect, how much more must we? For us, as for him, suffering is the pathway to glory.

Then second, and perhaps more important still, is that the cross also tells us that our God is a suffering God. The cross tells us that God Himself, in and through Jesus Christ, actually entered deeply into human suffering and that He suffers with us still. He entered into our world of pain, and so there’s nothing I can experience in life that He has not already experienced. There is no pain or disappointment in life that I can experience that God in Christ has not already experienced!

The cross does not free us from pain, but it can change our view of suffering and free us from bitterness by enabling us to view our suffering in the light of God’s suffering for us.

This week, we’re being called to look at the well-defined and comfortable walls of our lives and to see if the cross of Christ can really fit into our space and if we will rebuild our lives around all that the cross means to us as Christians.

And I hope that as we walk through Holy Week, we will be able to echo what the apostle Paul said, God forbid that I should glory in anything except the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

         

Self-examination, repentance, prayer, and worship:

Before you pray, take some time to reflect on the cross as a great gift from God to you. Perhaps you want to ask God to help you be a more “cross-centered” Christian. Thank the Lord for the cross, and then pray a prayer like the following:

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, my find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Spend time in family or individual worship as found on the back cover before studying the Gospel of John below.

Study: John 13 and 14, Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

 ¹Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ²During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, ³Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ⁴rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" ⁷ Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." ⁸ Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." ⁹Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" ¹⁰Jesus said to him, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you." ¹¹ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean."

 ¹²When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.¹⁶Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. ¹⁸ I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, 'He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.' ¹⁹ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. ²⁰Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me."

One of You Will Betray Me

 ²¹After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, "Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." ²² The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. ²³ One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus, ²⁴so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. ²⁵ So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, "Lord, who is it?" ²⁶Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." ²⁸Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. ²⁹Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the feast," or that he should give something to the poor. ³⁰So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

A New Commandment

 ³¹When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. ³²If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. ³³Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, 'Where I am going you cannot come.' ³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ³⁵ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Jesus Foretells Peter’s Denial

 ³⁶Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward." ³⁷ Peter said to him, "Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." ³⁸Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life

 ¹ "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ²In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ⁴And you know the way to where I am going." ⁵ Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" ⁶Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

 ⁸ Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." ⁹Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

 ¹²"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

 ¹⁵ "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

 ¹⁸"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." ²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?" ²³Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

 ²⁵"These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. ²⁶But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. ²⁸ You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I will come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. ³⁰I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, ³¹but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

Reflection Questions:

There are no specific reflection questions this week as we cover lots of Scripture in the final week of Jesus’ life. You are encouraged, however, to spend this week praying through the Scriptures, asking God to reveal his deep truths to you as you read.