San Diego First United Methodist Church’s Daily Devotion for Monday, 2 June 2014 – Sunday, 8 June 2014 Week 6 & 7 - The Way - Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus by Adam Hamilton

San Diego First United Methodist Church’s Daily Devotion for Monday, 2 June 2014 – Sunday, 8 June 2014
Week 6 & 7 - The Way - Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus by Adam Hamilton
All-church Study (May 4-June 8, 2014)
Pentecost – Week 7 - Your Defining Story
“When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle, and said to them, ‘Peace be to you.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus therefore said to them again, ‘Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit! If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.’”(John 20:19-23)
Week 6 - The Final Week - Jerusalem
Your story, may not seem exciting or extraordinary to you, and you may feel that it is not worth telling. However it is your story which is important to you and God. It is unique to you and may be exactly what someone else needs to hear. Take time to know your story. Sharing one minute with someone is the process of planting toward an eternal harvest.
Read by Sunday, June 8:
Pages 159-167 and 134-158 (optional) - The Way - Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus (Book)
Monday - Read today: 
Which King Will You Choose?
Pages 145-147 - The Way - 40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
“On the next day a great multitude had come to the feast. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet him, and cried out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!’ Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it. As it is written, ‘Don’t be afraid, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt.’”(John 12:12-15)
Last election season, I received political phone calls in thirty minutes, hoping to persuade me to vote this way or that. Signs were in the yards of my neighbors. The airwaves were filled with commercials for each of the candidates. The presidential candidates and their supporters spent over two billion dollars trying to get elected. In the end, each voter had to make a choice as to which candidate should be leading our country going forward.
On the first Palm Sunday, those in Jerusalem were offered a choice as well. Three “candidates” marched into Jerusalem that week, perhaps on the same day: There was Pilate, accompanied by centurions riding on their magnificent steeds, planning to keep the peace by intimidation, planning to crucify a handful of Jews who dared rebel against Rome’s authority. There was Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, who had taken his brother’s wife as his own—an incident that shortly thereafter led to Herod’s beheading of John the Baptist for speaking against their act.
There was also a third candidate. He entered Jerusalem not on a stallion, but a donkey. He came not adorned in gold and silver and silks, but in the clothes of a carpenter. His followers were a raging band of misfits, tax collectors, prostitutes, common folk, and children who hailed him as a king on that Sunday as he entered Jerusalem. He spoke of loving your enemies, praying for those who persecute you, and turning the other cheek when mistreated.
Which person would you have chosen among these three? The powerful and wealthy who ruled by might? Or the peasant king who called his followers to conquer by the power of sacrificial love? As I awaken each morning, I always take a moment in prayer to hail Jesus once again as Savior and King.
Lord, help me to choose you each day and to follow in the path you’ve laid out of me. You are my King and my Lord. Teach me to demonstrate kindness in the face of unkindness and to overcome evil by the power of love. Amen.
Read today: 
Pages 171-174 - The Way - 40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
The Gardener
“But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb,
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn’t know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?’ She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned and said to him, ‘Rabboni!’ which is to say, ‘Teacher!’”(John 20:11,14-16)
John’s Easter story is moving and profound. In his gospel, he intends to do more than tell us what happened. His stories and their details are meant to show us what the story means.
Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. The stone had been rolled away. Jesus’ body was not there. She did not yet understand. To her grief had been added the painful thought that someone had taken Jesus’ body from the tomb to further humiliate him!
Composer C. Austin Miles penned his well-loved hymn “In the Garden” after reading John’s account of the Resurrection. It is sung in Mary’s voice: “I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses.” Suddenly Jesus appears next to Mary, but she doesn’t recognize him. Since the tomb was located in the garden, Mary thought at first that Jesus was the gardener.
This mention of the garden, with Jesus seeming to be the gardener, only appears in John’s gospel. John wants the reader to connect the dots between this garden and the Garden of Eden. Remember, John begins his gospel pointing back to the Garden of Eden by echoing the opening words of Genesis: “In the beginning…” (John 1:1). John wants us to see what happened in Eden—the loss of paradise—was being reversed in Jesus’ death and resurrection. In Genesis, God had said, “In the day you eat of the forbidden fruit you will die.” The archetypal story of Adam and Eve in the first garden point to the pain and death that come when we turn from God’s way! But in this garden—where Jesus is crucified, is buried, and then emerges from the tomb—he takes away the sting of our sin, and he conquers human mortality.
When I wrote the companion book to this devotional, I described a woman named Joyce and her cancer diagnosis. In the month between the writing of that book and this one, Joyce died. A day or so before her passing, I stood by her bedside at the Hospice House. Her family was there. One of our worship leaders sang some of her favorite songs. Joyce faced her death with confidence and hope, and she instilled these in her husband, children, and grandchildren. She found her hope in the story of Christ’s resurrection. And with C. Austin Miles she would sing, “And He walks with me, and He talks with me,/And He tells me I am His own;/And the joy we share as we tarry there,/None other has ever know.”[C. Austin Miles, “In the Garden,” The United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville, the United Methodist Publishing House, 1989), 314]
Lord, help me to trust in the hope of Easter—that you live and walk with me, and that you have conquered death. I believe that because you live, I shall live also. I entrust my life to you. Amen.
Tuesday - Read today:
Pages 148-151 - The Way - 40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
Who do You Belong To?
“They watched him, and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor. They asked him, ‘Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right, and aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?’ But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, ‘Why do you test me? Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?’ They answered, ‘Caesar’s.’ He said to them, ‘Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’”(Luke 20:20-25)
Shortly after entering Jerusalem, Jesus went to the Temple and found that the merchants and moneychangers had been filling their own pockets by forcing worshipers to exchange coins or purchase animals for sacrifice at prices well above market, Jesus drove them out, enraging both the merchants and the religious authorities, who also made money off the arrangement.
After that, Jesus taught in the Temple courts each day, and hundreds came to hear him. But the religious leaders were determined to trap him in his words, by leading him either to say something they could claim was blasphemous, or to say something against Rome that would allow them to turn Jesus over to Pilate as a revolutionary. In today’s Scripture, the trap they set was a clever one. If suggested that it was lawful to pay taxes, then he would alienate those who resented the annual tribute owed to the emperor. If he said people should not pay taxes, then he would be turned over to the Romans as a dissident.
In response to their query, Jesus asked for a denarius, the common coin of the day. The coin represented a day’s wages for a common laborer and the annual tribute due the Emperor from every adult male in Palestine. Jesus asked whose image was on the coin. The Greek word for “image” is eikon—icon. This was also the word that was used in the Greek translation of Genesis 1:27, where God made human beings in His Image—His Icon.
The head on the coin was likely that of the reigning emperor, Tiberius, and the inscription probably read, “Tiberius Caesar, the son of the divine Augustus.” So the leaders replied, “the emperor’s” (Luke 20:24). Then came the brilliant response by Jesus: “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Luke 20:25).
Who would argue with his logic? The coin was struck in Caesar’s image; render unto Caesar. But you are another matter. Your heart, your mind, your soul were made in the image of God. Render unto God’s the things that are God’s
The Covenant Prayer of the early Methodists is an example of a prayer aimed at helping the one praying it to “give to God the things are God’s.” I invite you to make this your prayer today:
I am no longer my own but Thine. Put me to what you will. Rank me with whom you will. Put me to doing or put me to suffering. Let me be exalted by Thee or brought low for Thee. Let me be full or let me be empty. I freely and heartedly yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, most glorious and blessed God, thou art mine and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant that I have made on earth let it be ratified in heaven. Amen. 
Read today: 
Pages 175-179 - The Way - 40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
Some Doubted
“But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’”(John 20:24-25)
Michael was a guide on my first trip to Israel. He was Jewish, but it was obvious that he knew more about Jesus than the average Christian. As Michael described the various places we went, he assume more New Testament knowledge than some of our people had, and I would have to stop and explain what he had just said. Michael was more like a professor of New Testament than a Holy Land guide.
At one point, away from the rest of the group, I asked him, “Michael, you genuinely seem to love Jesus, yet you are not a Christian. Tell me about this.” He said, “I do love him. I love what he taught, I love what he did, I love the way he cared for the sick and the broken. I grieve the tragedy of his death and believe he gave his life to demonstrate the path of love, and to show God’s love.” I said, “Michael, it sounds like you are a Christ-follower.” He responded, “ My only problem is that I can’t find the faith to believe in the Resurrection.”
Michael was not the first to struggle with the concept of Jesus’ resurrection. In Luke’s gospel, the women were the first to meet the risen Christ, but when they told the disciples that he was risen, “these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11). When Jesus finally appeared to the disciples, Thomas was not with them, so he did not believe. In fact, ten disciples told him they had seen Christ risen, and still he refused to believe. His skepticism earned him the nickname “Doubting Thomas.” Matthew, in his account, depicts the disciples seeing the resurrected Christ for the first time in Galilee when he gave the great commission. Matthew notes, “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted” (Matthew 28:17).
I think Jesus had great empathy for doubters. He knew the Resurrection would be hard to believe, which is why, after appearing to Thomas he said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed”(John 20:29).
The first time I read Matthew and Mark’s Gospels I was not yet Christian. I, too, found the Resurrection difficult to believe. Finally, as I read Luke’s account, it began to make sense. I asked myself, “ What would be different if the Resurrection on not occurred?” Jesus would have died on the cross, just the same. But this death would be a defeat, not the prelude to a victory. Evil would have won. Hate, fear, and bigotry would have been the victors. The apostles would have returned to fishing. Paul would never have met the risen Christ. The Great Commission would never have been given. The message of redemption, forgiveness, and hope would not be known throughout the world.
It finally hit me that the story had to end with the Resurrection if in fact it was God’s story. Evil would not have the last word. Death could not have the final say. I came to trust that God, who called forth the universe through his creative power, also had the power to bring about Christ’s resurrection from the grave. Realizing this, I came to trust that the tomb was empty and that the women, the disciples, and Paul had in fact seen the risen Christ.
God raised his son from the dead. I not only believe this, I’m counting on it. But I still have empathy for those, such as Michael, who struggle with doubt. I assured Michael that he was in good company—that the earliest disciples of Jesus struggled with the Resurrection, too. I invited him to keep following Jesus’ way and to continue pondering the Resurrection. I suggested that one day he, too, might come to see the logic, and power, of the Resurrection.
“Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief.” Thank you for your patience with doubters such as Thomas. Help me to trust in the Easter story and to know that because you live, I will live also. Amen.
Wednesday - Read today: 
Pages 152-155 - The Way - 40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
A Recovering Pharisee?
“Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses’ seat. All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do. But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad, enlarge the fringes of their garments, But he who is greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.’”(Matthew 23:1-3,5,11-12)
Each day of the final week of his life, Jesus was more blunt in his criticism of the religious leaders. His parables were just thinly veiled indictments of their hypocrisy. In Matthew 23, Jesus spoke in the Temple courts to a crowd of hundreds, perhaps thousands. He began with a warning to do as the Scribes and Pharisees said, but not as they did. One has the impression that there were religious leaders standing in the crowd, wearing flowing robes and frowns.
Jesus eventually turned to speak directly to them: “Woe to you, Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites!” His words may seem unduly harsh and designed to provoke, until we remember that he knew already that these leaders would put him to death. He saw these leaders as betraying the very God they claimed to serve.
What were the religious leaders doing wrong? They were filled with pride. They performed acts of piety in order to be noticed by others. They loved affirmation and being seen as important. They demanded that the people practice one thing, while they themselves privately lived by another standard. They developed binding rules that contradicted the spirit and intent of the Law they claimed to uphold. They tithed on every herb in their garden, but failed to practice justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
In the most graphic of images, Jesus noted that the religious leaders were like “whitewashed tombs”—beautiful outside but full of decay inside (Matthew 23:27). The leaders appeared righteous but were full of hypocrisy and wickedness. They were like blind guides. They strained gnats but swallowed camels. You get the idea. It wasn’t a flattering picture. Having said that, I now have a confession to make: I am a recovering Pharisee, and sometimes I “fall off the wagon;” I find that nearly every part of Jesus’ indictment of the Pharisees has, at one time or another, applied to me. How easy it is to pose as something you are not, to love being called “Pastor” or “Reverend,” to stand in front of a congregation asking people to do something that you yourself are not doing.
The Greek word for hypocrite meant an actor on stage. Are you play-acting your faith, or does it permeate your entire life? Are you like a whitewashed tomb filled with unclean things? Jesus indictment of the Pharisees is an invitation of self-examination and repentance.
Looking back at today’s reading from Matthew, I am reminded of the call to practice what I preach, to live my life “for an audience of One,” and to humble myself before God and others.
Lord, forgive me for those moments when I have become a Pharisee. Help me to live what I claim to believe. I long for my motives to be pure—Please forgive me when they are not. And help me to humble myself before you, while seeking always to serve you. Amen.
Read today: 
Pages 180-183 - The Way - 40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
On the Road to Emmaus
“Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem. They talked with each other about all of these things which had happened. While they talked and questioned together, Jesus himself came near, and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.”(Luke 24:13-16)
It was Easter afternoon. The disciples were still reeling, having learned that Jesus’ tomb had apparently been desecrated and his body taken. There were women who had reported he had been raised from the dead, but as yet the disciples did not believe them. Two disciples, a man named Cleopas and another unnamed disciple, left Jerusalem for Emmaus, about a two-hour walk from the Holy City. William Barclay’s translation of Luke 24:17b notes that “their faces were twisted with grief.”[From William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke (The Daily Study Bible; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1956); 307] They were on a journey filled with sorrow.
We’re walked on the road to Emmaus. Our road may have led to the unemployment line or the hospital, to the courtroom or the cemetery. One way or another, we’re all walked on a journey where our hopes and dreams have been crushed, and sorrow seems to be our only friend.
Jesus came as a stranger to Cleopas and his friend. He listened as they told him, not realizing who he was, about the events surrounding the Crucifixion. When he began to speak, he offered them a different perspective on the events that had occurred. Then that evening, as he gave thanks for their meal and broke the bread, they saw that his stranger was Jesus.
Today, Jesus routinely sends us to be his representatives, as strangers on someone else's road to Emmaus. And sometimes he sends others to us on our road to Emmaus. Whatever our role, the key is to pay attention!
A man I know was checking into a hotel when a woman entered the lobby, upset and clearly struggling. She need a place to stay for the night but had no way of paying and could only promise that she was being wired money the next day. She ran out to her car to get proof for the manager that she would be to repay him the next day. While she was gone, my friend for the woman’s room and quickly scratched out a note to her: “I felt God wanted me to pay for your lodging tonight. I believe he wants you to know that he hasn’t forgotten you.” My friend became the stranger on the road to Emmaus.
A woman I know stopped in a church restroom during worship, only to find another woman there in tears. The two of them had never met before, but the other woman’s face was “twisted with grief.” My friend could tell that the woman needed someone to care for her, and she paused to minister to the woman. This was the road to Emmaus, and she would be the presence of Christ for this sorrowful woman.
As a follower of Christ, you have the opportunity to represent him. Pay attention to the strangers you meet. It may be that the Lord wants to use you to offer comfort and hope to those in need as they travel along the road to Emmaus.
Lord, teach me to pay attention to the strangers around me. Use me to encourage, comfort, and care for the stranger in need. Amen. 
Thursday - Read today: 
Pages 156-159 - The Way - 40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
Maundy Thursday
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
“arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel, and wrapped a towel around his waist. Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”(John 13:4-5)
“He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave to them, saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.’ 20 Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’” (Luke 22:19-20)
On Thursday of Holy Week, Christians around the world gather to remember Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. The day is called Maundy Thursday, or Holy Thursday. It is likely that Maundy comes from the Latin mandatum, which, as you might guess, can be translated as mandate or commandment. On this night, just before his arrest, Jesus would give his disciples three mandates: love one another, serve one another, and remember him in the breaking of the bread.
Love and serve one another: Sitting at the table, Jesus said to his gathered disciples, “I give you a new commandment. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” What does it mean to love as Jesus loved? While Jesus undoubtedly felt a brotherly love for his disciples that was not the love he demanded of his disciples here. He demanded agape—not feelings, but selfless acts done to help, benefit, or care for another. Earlier in John 13 we read, “He now showed them the full extent of his love” (John 13:1). Then he proceeded to assume the role of the lowest household servant by washing his disciples’ feet.
After washing their feet, Jesus said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done to you.” Loving by serving is meant to define the Christian life. Jesus said this would be a sign to the world that we are his followers. We live selflessly and sacrificially towards others. In this we become leaven and salt. We let our light shine so that, through us, the world glimpses God’s kingdom and what we were meant to be as human beings.
Sunday a physician told me how a man had come to her office the previous week. He said he was not a patient, but his friend was. His friend needed a $1,700 procedure that was not covered by insurance, and the man knew his friend could not afford it. The man said, “I’m here to pay for the procedure, but you cannot tell him who did this. Please simply say that the expenses have been covered.” The physician told me, “In all my years of practice I’ve never had anyone do something like this.” In this one act, the benefactor had demonstrated both what it means to love and what it means to serve.
The final command Jesus gave was to remember him in the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the cup. While we do this in Holy Communion, I’ve always felt Jesus intended something more. Every meal in every Jewish home included bread and wine. I wonder if he did not intend that every time his followers gave thanks at mealtime, they would remember him. This is what we do when we pause to say grace at meals. In this simple act, we remember him who gave his live for us.
Lord, help me to remember your love and sacrifice every day of my life. Give the grace to love and serve others without a desire for recognition or repayment. Amen.
Read today: 
Pages 184-188 - The Way - 40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
The Great Commission
“But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them. 17 When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted. 18 Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen”(Matthew 28:16-20)
Anglican scholar, pastor, and writer R. T. France, in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, notes that its final verses, often called the Great Commission, are the climax and fulfillment of the entire Gospel.[Discussed in R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (the New International Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007)]
At the beginning of the Gospel Jesus is referred to as “Immanuel,” God with us; at the end of the Gospel Jesus promises to be with us always, to the end of the age. At Jesus’ birth the wise men, Gentiles, Come to pay homage; after his resurrection Jesus sends his disciples into all the nations. During Jesus’ temptation the devil offers him the kingdoms of the world—not just their wealth, but by implication their power; at the end he declares that all authority has been given to him on earth and in heaven (Matthew 28:18). At the beginning of his ministry he invites twelve disciples to follow him; now he sends them out to the whole world to invite others to follow him. Throughout the Gospels Jesus has taught his followers about the kingdom, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount; now they must teach others to obey everything he has told them.
Jesus’ Great Commission calls all who follow Jesus to invite others to do the same. But we are honest, most of us are a little nervous about talking to others about Jesus. We love the quote, often attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, that we should preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words. [Although scholars disagree whether Saint Francis actually said these words, the concept of living out the Gospel in one’s daily life was certainly central to his message.] We’re happy to show the gospel to others, but often we pray that we won’t have to “use words.”
Yet the Kingdom of God on earth only expands as people who are Christ followers—people like you and me—share their story with others.
I became a Christ follower at age fourteen because a man named Harold Thorson was going door to door inviting people to church. I became a Christ follower because a girl named LaVon invited me youth group and Sunday school. I became a Christ follower because a pastor and a youth pastor told me what Jesus had taught his disciples and invited me to obey. All these people showed me the gospel, and they knew they also had to use words.
There are people in your life who are not yet Christ followers. Some would consider the Christian faith if you were to tell them what your faith in Jesus means to you. Make a list of people God may be calling you to share your faith with. Pray for them. Invite them to worship with you. Over a cup of coffee, tell them the story of how you came to faith, or the difference Christ has made in your daily life.
Last week a woman came to me after worship, saying it was her first Sunday at our church. She had felt lost for some time. Some good friends had loved her, and listened to her, and gently shared with her the difference Christ had made in their lives. The friends had described how they had found him at our church. And they had encouraged her, not just once but multiple times, to visit the church.
The woman looked at me and said, “Today I feel that I finally found what I’ve been looking for. I’m so grateful to my friends who encouraged me to visit the church!” Her friends were fulfilling the Great Commission, and in the process they were being used by God to change this woman’s life.
Who are the people God wants you to reach out to in his name?
Lord, I wish to be your disciple. Help me to follow you faithfully. Use me, I pray, to share with my friends your story, and to invite and encourage him/her to join me as I follow you. Amen.
Friday - Read today: 
Pages 160-163 - The Way - 40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
A Mirror and A Self-Portrait
“The soldiers led him away within the court, which is the Praetorium; and they called together the whole cohort. They clothed him with purple, and weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on him. They began to salute him, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a reed, and spat on him, and bowing their knees, did homage to him. When they had mocked him, they took the purple off of him, and put his own garments on him. They led him out to crucify him.
It was the third hour, and they crucified him.
Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying ‘Ha!’ You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days,’ Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, ‘He saved others. He can’t save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him.’ Those who were crucified with him also insulted him.”(Mark 15:16-20, 25, 29, 31, 32)
Mark’s account of the crucifixion makes clear the inhumanity of those who surrounded Jesus on that first “Good” Friday. They were anything but good. An entire cohort of soldiers came together to humiliate Jesus, beating him, mocking him, spitting on him. Jesus was crucified outside the city walls, and those who passed by hurled insults at him. (Crucifixion occurred on main roadways to act as a deterrent for others.) The religious leaders showed him no mercy, mocking him as he suffered. Mark tells us that Jesus was taunted even by those who were crucified alongside him. For all these people, it was not enough that they had successfully sentenced Jesus to die. They wanted to dehumanize him as well.
If we could step back and take a cosmic view of this scene, we would see God the Son beaten, abused, spat upon, cified, then mocked and taunted as he hung dying. And his abusers? The fancied themselves the champions of justice. The chief priests and experts in Scripture believed they were the champions of God’s Law. The common Jews saw themselves as God’s chosen people. The irony of the Crucifixion is overwhelming: God came to humanity, even to his own people, and they crucified him, seeking to crush his spirit as he suffered.
The Crucifixion is at one and the same time a mirror held up to humanity, making plain our inhumanity; and a self-portrait of the God who willingly suffered at our hands to redeem us, change us, and save us from ourselves. We are meant to see ourselves in the crowd at Calvary. Alexander Solzhenitsyn has rightly noted, “The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”[From Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, (Translated Thomas P. Whitney; New York: Harper and Row, 1956);307] But we’re also meant to see a God who suffers as a result of our sin, and who is willing to die in order to save us from ourselves.
Like the crowd at Calvary, we have the capacity and propensity to rationalize the hurtful things we say and do to one another. We are experts in justifying what cannot be justified. We, too, have turned from God’s way in order to hold on to power, to pursue wealth, or to protect our wounded pride. We’ve made thousands of small turns away from God’s path, and few really big ones. Which is why, on Good Friday, we pause to remember that the Crucifixion was for us. We see the Lord hanging there. We hear him cry out, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they do.” We see in the cross our need and God’s gift. We kneel before our crucified Lord and pray:
Forgive me, Lord! Heal me, Lord! Help me, Lord, that I might, from this day on, follow in your way! Amen.
Saturday - Read today: 
Pages 164-168 - The Way - 40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
What If Judas Had Waited?
“Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood.’ But they said, ‘What is that to us? You see to it.’ He threw down the pieces of silver in the sanctuary, and departed. He went away and hanged himself.”(Matthew 27:3-5)
Several years ago I had the chance to visit the place tradition says Judas hung himself. The field, known as Potter’s Field or Field of Blood, overlooks the Valley of Hinnom—Gehenna. Gehenna served as the city’s trash dump in the time of Christ and, owing to the constant fires that burned the rubbish there, came to be synonymous with hell. On the site of this field are the ruins of a twelfth-century Crusader church and a host of discarded tombs in the side of the rock outcropping. And there, in the middle of the field, is lone tree, a reminder that when Judas came to this place, overwhelmed with guilt over having betrayed Christ, he hanged himself.
As I stood at the tree, a thought came to me: “What if Judas would have waited for three days?”
Many people, at some point, think of ending their lives. For most, the thought is momentary and fleeting. For others, who are overwhelmed by guilt, depression, or pain, the thought lingers. Tragically, a few will conclude that life offers the only way out.
Judas was one of these few. He had betrayed Christ. His friend would die for his betrayal. He felt there was no other way out. Yet I could not stop thinking, “If only he had waited three days.” Had he waited, he would have seen Christ risen from the grave. He would have known that even his betrayal was not the final word. He could have fallen at Jesus’ feet and cried out, “Lord, forgive me!” And what do you think Jesus would have said to Judas? Can there be any doubt that Jesus would have shown mercy to him?
Imagine what would have become of Judas had he waited. His witness might have been the most powerful of all the disciples’. Can you imagine him telling his story throughout the empire? “I betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver. I watched him die on the cross. But on the third day, he rose. And he forgave even me! If he forgave me, what can he do for you?”
In our lives, we have moments that seem overwhelming bleak. We make a mess of things and see no way out. Judas felt that way. But the message of the cross and Resurrection is that God is the Lord of second chances. In even the most dire circumstances, there is always hope. After are most egregious sins, there is the offer of grace. In the darkest of times, there is an Easter yet to come.
Listen carefully: there is always hope. God is able to take the pain and despair of the present and bring from it something remarkable. You can’t imagine it now, but look for someone or something that can help you find hope: a pastor, a family member, a friend, a suicide hot-line. Remember Judas’ story. Think about what could have been, if only he had waited three days.
Lord, help me to trust you in my darkest hour. Help me to remember that you can take something as ugly as a cross and turn it into an instrument of salvation. Grant me courage to keep walking when I feel like giving up. Amen.
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If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, contact a suicide hotline in your area and contact the pastor of your local church.
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First United Methodist Church
2111 Camino del Rio South
San Diego, CA 92108
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