Holy Monday – Day 35: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6b-7
Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry out or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his teaching. I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.
Holy Week – Week 7: Sacrifice
Luke 9:23-25 says, “Then he said to them all, ‘If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit them if they gain the whole world but lose or forfeit themselves'” Practicing sacrifice, and it is something we must practice, is not a comfortable place to be. As Jesus said, it may involve shame, losing one’s life or lifestyle. And if we are called to follow Jesus’ example, we follow in the way of sacrifice. In preaching about the Good Samaritan, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But…the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’” Sacrifice involves putting the needs of others before our own. So, let us be able to reflect on the sacrifice we experience this week. What do we learn by going into, through and out the other end of suffering?
A Path Through Lent is a daily devotional series that leads us from Ash Wednesday to Resurrection Sunday in preparation for Easter. Lent is a 40 day period before Easter that symbolizes the 40 days that Jesus was in the desert praying and fasting. (Matthew 4, Mark 1, Luke 4). Watch for theses daily devotionals to orient your day and your week as we prepare for resurrection!