Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Dr. Kari Vo "Whose Cross?" for Monday, March 26, 2018
So they took Jesus, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. (John 19:16b-17)
Read Mark 15:21-25
Mark 15:21 Simon, a man from Cyrene, Alexander and Rufus’ father, was coming in from the countryside. They forced him to carry his cross.
22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means Skull Place. 23 They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he didn’t take it. 24 They crucified him. They divided up his clothes, drawing lots for them to determine who would take what.25 It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. (Common English Bible)
***Mark 15:21 Simon, a man from Cyrene, Alexander and Rufus’ father, was coming in from the countryside. They forced him to carry his cross.
22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means Skull Place. 23 They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he didn’t take it. 24 They crucified him. They divided up his clothes, drawing lots for them to determine who would take what.25 It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. (Common English Bible)
After Jesus had been flogged, mocked, and condemned, they took Him out on the road to Golgotha, carrying His own cross. Now the cross was probably what we would call the crosspiece only -- the patibulum. The upright vertical piece was probably already in place, fixed in the execution grounds.
The crosspiece alone would have weighed over a hundred pounds -- a heavy load for a man in good health. Jesus was already near death -- weak, dehydrated, probably in shock from the scourging and other abuse. He could not carry it. The walk was too far.
So the soldiers grabbed a bystander, Simon of Cyrene, to do the job. This was a humiliating task -- to carry a cross in a public execution parade, as if he himself were the criminal condemned to die! But Simon did it -- you don't say "no" to Roman soldiers.
And then Jesus was nailed to it, and the crosspiece hoisted into place. The Son of God, hanging suspended between heaven and earth, on display for all the world to see.
In the ancient world, this was a scene of utter shame. Romans even used "cross" and "crucify" as swear words. Even today Muslims refuse to believe that Jesus died on a cross -- that death is too shameful, they say; God would not have allowed it, not for a holy man.
But God did allow it. In fact, God ordained it. In the council of the Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- one God -- chose this death, this shameful cross. God chose our cross for Himself, our death, so He could give us in return His own life, holiness, and glory.
THE PRAYER: How can we thank You, O Lord, dear Jesus? There is no way. We love You and trust in You. Dear Father, grant that Jesus may have the full fruits of His cross -- that people everywhere may believe in Him and be saved. Amen.
Reflection Questions
- What is the heaviest thing you have ever tried to lift or carry? Who helped you?
- Jesus has lifted the weight of sin and shame from your shoulders. How does that make you feel now?
- Why do you think God chose such a shameful death for Himself?
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Deuteronomy 5-7; Luke 3
Deuteronomy 5:1 (A: iv, S: iii) Then Moshe called to all Isra’el and said to them, “Listen, Isra’el, to the laws and rulings which I am announcing in your hearing today, so that you will learn them and take care to obey them. 2 Adonai our God made a covenant with us at Horev. 3 Adonai did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us — with us, who are all of us here alive today. 4 Adonai spoke with you face to face from the fire on the mountain. 5 At that time I stood between Adonai and you in order to tell you what Adonaiwas saying; because, on account of the fire, you were afraid and wouldn’t go up onto the mountain. He said,
א 6 “‘I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you lived as slaves.
ב 7 “‘You are to have no other gods before me. 8 You are not to make for yourselves a carved image or any kind of representation of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath or in the water below the shoreline — 9 you are not to bow down to them or serve them; for I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents, also the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but displaying grace to the thousandth generation of those who love me and obey my mitzvot.
ג 11 “‘You are not to misuse the name of Adonai your God, because Adonai will not leave unpunished someone who misuses his name.
ד 12 “‘Observe the day of Shabbat, to set it apart as holy, as Adonai your God ordered you to do. 13 You have six days to labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Shabbatfor Adonai your God. On it you are not to do any kind of work — not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your ox, your donkey or any of your other livestock, and not the foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property — so that your male and female servants can rest just as you do. 15 You are to remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Adonai your God brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore Adonaiyour God has ordered you to keep the day of Shabbat.
ה 16 “‘Honor your father and mother, as Adonai your God ordered you to do, so that you will live long and have things go well with you in the land Adonai your God is giving you.
ו 17 “‘Do not murder.
ז (18) “‘Do not commit adultery.
ח (19) “‘Do not steal.
ט (20) “‘Do not give false evidence against your neighbor.
י 18 (21) “‘Do not covet your neighbor’s wife; do not covet your neighbor’s house, his field, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’
(A: v, S: iv) 19 (22) “These words Adonai spoke to your entire gathering at the mountain from fire, cloud and thick mist, in a loud voice; then it ceased. But he wrote them on two stone tablets, which he gave to me. 20 (23) When you heard the voice coming out of the darkness, as the mountain blazed with fire, you came to me, all the heads of your tribes and your leaders, 21 (24) and said, ‘Here, Adonai our God has shown us his glory and his greatness! We have heard his voice coming from the fire, and we have seen today that God does speak with human beings, and they stay alive. 22 (25) But why should we keep risking death? This great fire will consume us! If we hear the voice of Adonai our God any more, we will die! 23 (26) For who is there of all humanity that has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the fire, as we have, and stayed alive? 24 (27) You, go near; and hear everything Adonai our God says. Then you will tell us everything Adonai our God says to you; and we will listen to it and do it.’
25 (28) “Adonai heard what you were saying when you spoke to me, and Adonai said to me, ‘I have heard what this people has said when speaking to you, and everything they have said is good. 26 (29) Oh, how I wish their hearts would stay like this always, that they would fear me and obey all my mitzvot; so that it would go well with them and their children forever. 27 (30) Go, tell them to return to their tents. 28 (31) But you, stand here by me; and I will tell you all the mitzvot, laws and rulings which you are to teach them, so that they can obey them in the land I am giving them as their possession.’
29 (32) “Therefore you are to be careful to do as Adonai your God has ordered you; you are not to deviate either to the right or the left. 30 (33) You are to follow the entire way which Adonai your God has ordered you; so that you will live, things will go well with you, and you will live long in the land you are about to possess.
6:1 “Now this is the mitzvah, the laws and rulings which Adonaiyour God ordered me to teach you for you to obey in the land you are crossing over to possess, 2 so that you will fear Adonai your God and observe all his regulations and mitzvot that I am giving you — you, your child and your grandchild — as long as you live, and so that you will have long life. 3 Therefore listen, Isra’el, and take care to obey, so that things will go well with you, and so that you will increase greatly, as Adonai, the God of your ancestors, promised you by giving you a land flowing with milk and honey.
(A:vi, S: v) 4 “Sh’ma, Yisra’el! Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, Isra’el! Adonai our God, Adonai is one]; 5 and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. 6 These words, which I am ordering you today, are to be on your heart; 7 and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them on your hand as a sign, put them at the front of a headband around your forehead, 9 and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.
(S: vi) 10 “When Adonai your God has brought you into the land he swore to your ancestors Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov that he would give you — cities great and prosperous, which you didn’t build; 11 houses full of all sorts of good things, which you didn’t fill; water cisterns dug out, which you didn’t dig; vineyards and olive trees, which you didn’t plant — and you have eaten your fill; 12 then be careful not to forget Adonai, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you lived as slaves. 13 You are to fear Adonai your God, serve him and swear by his name. 14 You are not to follow other gods, chosen from the gods of the peoples around you; 15 because Adonai, your God, who is here with you, is a jealous God. If you do, the anger of Adonai your God will flare up against you and he will destroy you from the face of the earth. 16 Do not put Adonai your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah [testing]. 17 Observe diligently the mitzvot of Adonai your God, and his instructions and laws which he has given you. 18 You are to do what is right and good in the sight of Adonai, so that things will go well with you, and you will enter and possess the good land Adonai swore to your ancestors, 19 expelling all your enemies ahead of you, as Adonai said.
20 “Some day your child will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of the instructions, laws and rulings which Adonai our God has laid down for you?’ 21 Then you will tell your child, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Adonai brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. 22 Adonai worked great and terrible signs and wonders against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household, before our very eyes. 23 He brought us out from there in order to bring us to the land he had sworn to our ancestors that he would give us. 24 Adonai ordered us to observe all these laws, to fear Adonai our God, always for our own good, so that he might keep us alive, as we are today. 25 It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to obey all these mitzvot before Adonai our God, just as he ordered us to do.’”
7:1 (vii) “Adonai your God is going to bring you into the land you will enter in order to take possession of it, and he will expel many nations ahead of you — the Hitti, Girgashi, Emori, Kena‘ani, P’rizi, Hivi and Y’vusi, seven nations bigger and stronger than you. 2 When he does this, when Adonai your God hands them over ahead of you, and you defeat them, you are to destroy them completely! Do not make any covenant with them. Show them no mercy. 3 Don’t intermarry with them — don’t give your daughter to his son, and don’t take his daughter for your son. 4 For he will turn your children away from following me in order to serve other gods. If this happens, the anger of Adonai will flare up against you, and he will quickly destroy you. 5 No, treat them this way: break down their altars, smash their standing-stones to pieces, cut down their sacred poles and burn up their carved images completely. 6 For you are a people set apart as holy for Adonaiyour God. Adonai your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his own unique treasure. 7 Adonaididn’t set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people — on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 Rather, it was because Adonai loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors, that Adonai brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from a life of slavery under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Maftir) 9 From this you can know that Adonai your God is indeed God, the faithful God, who keeps his covenant and extends grace to those who love him and observe his mitzvot, to a thousand generations. 10 But he repays those who hate him to their face and destroys them. He will not be slow to deal with someone who hates him; he will repay him to his face. 11 Therefore, you are to keep the mitzvot, laws and rulings which I am giving you today, and obey them.
12 “Because you are listening to these rulings, keeping and obeying them, Adonai your God will keep with you the covenant and mercy that he swore to your ancestors. 13 He will love you, bless you and increase your numbers; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground — your grain, wine, olive oil and the young of your cattle and sheep — in the land he swore to your ancestors that he would give you. 14 You will be blessed more than all other peoples; there will not be a sterile male or female among you, and the same with your livestock. 15 Adonaiwill remove all illness from you — he will not afflict you with any of Egypt’s dreadful diseases, which you have known; instead, he will lay them on those who hate you. 16 You are to devour all the peoples that Adonai your God hands over to you — show them no pity, and do not serve their gods, because that will become a trap for you. 17 If you think to yourselves, ‘These nations outnumber us; how can we dispossess them?’ 18 nevertheless, you are not to be afraid of them; you are to remember well what Adonai your God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt — 19 the great ordeals which you yourself saw, and the signs, wonders, strong hand and outstretched arm by which Adonai your God brought you out. Adonai will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover, Adonai your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left and those who hide themselves perish ahead of you. 21 You are not to be frightened of them, because Adonai your God is there with you, a God great and fearsome. 22 Adonai your God will expel those nations ahead of you little by little; you can’t put an end to them all at once, or the wild animals will become too numerous for you. 23 Nevertheless, Adonai your God will give them over to you, sending one disaster after another upon them until they have been destroyed. 24 He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their name from under heaven; none of them will be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. 25 You are to burn up completely the carved statues of their gods. Don’t be greedy for the silver or gold on them; don’t take it with you, or you will be trapped by it; for it is abhorrent to Adonai your God. 26 Don’t bring something abhorrent into your house, or you will share in the curse that is on it; instead, you are to detest it completely, loathe it utterly; for it is set apart for destruction.
Luke 3:1 In the fifteenth year of Emperor Tiberius’ rule; when Pontius Pilate was governor of Y’hudah, Herod ruler of the Galil, his brother Philip ruler of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 with ‘Anan and Kayafa being the cohanim g’dolim; the word of God came to Yochanan Ben-Z’kharyah in the desert. 3 He went all through the Yarden region proclaiming an immersion involving turning to God from sin in order to be forgiven. 4 It was just as had been written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Yesha‘yahu,
“The voice of someone crying out:
‘In the desert prepare the way for Adonai!
Make straight paths for him!
5 Every valley must be filled in,
every mountain and hill leveled off;
the winding roads must be straightened
and the rough ways made smooth.
6 Then all humanity will see God’s deliverance.’”[Luke 3:6 Isaiah 40:3–5]
7 Therefore, Yochanan said to the crowds who came out to be immersed by him, “You snakes! Who warned you to escape the coming punishment? 8 If you have really turned from your sins, produce fruit that will prove it! And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘Avraham is our father’! For I tell you that God can raise up for Avraham sons from these stones! 9 Already the axe is at the root of the trees, ready to strike; every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown in the fire!”
10 The crowds asked Yochanan, “So then, what should we do?” 11 He answered, “Whoever has two coats should share with somebody who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.” 12 Tax-collectors also came to be immersed; and they asked him, “Rabbi, what should we do?” 13 “Collect no more than the government assesses,” he told them. 14 Some soldiers asked him, “What about us? What should we do?” To them he said, “Don’t intimidate anyone, don’t accuse people falsely, and be satisfied with your pay.”
15 The people were in a state of great expectancy, and everyone was wondering whether perhaps Yochanan himself might be the Messiah; 16 so Yochanan answered them all, “I am immersing you in water, but he who is coming is more powerful than I — I’m not worthy to untie his sandals! He will immerse you in the Ruach HaKodesh and in fire. 17 He has with him his winnowing fork to clear out his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the straw with unquenchable fire!”
18 And with many other warnings besides these he announced the Good News to the people.
19 But Yochanan also denounced Herod the regional governor for taking as his own wife Herodias, the wife of his brother, and for all the other wicked things Herod had done; 20 whereupon Herod added this to the rest: he locked up Yochanan in prison.
21 While all the people were being immersed, Yeshua too was immersed. As he was praying, heaven was opened; 22 the Ruach HaKodesh came down on him in physical form like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love; I am well pleased with you.”
23 Yeshua was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry. It was supposed that he was a son of Yosef who was of Eli,
24 of Mattat, of Levi, of Malki, of Yannai, of Yosef,
25 of Mattityahu, of Amotz, of Nachum, of Hesli, of Naggai,
26 of Machat, of Mattityahu, of Shim‘i, of Yosef, of Yodah,
27 of Yochanan, of Reisha, of Z’rubavel, of Sh’altiel, of Neri,
28 of Malki, of Addi, of Kosam, of Elmadan, of Er,
29 of Yeshua, of Eli‘ezer, of Yoram, of Mattat, of Levi,
30 of Shim‘on, of Y’hudah, of Yosef, of Yonam, of Elyakim,
31 of Mal’ah, of Manah, of Mattatah, of Natan, of David,
32 of Yishai, of ‘Oved, of Bo‘az, of Salmon, of Nachshon,
33 of Amminadav, of Admin, of Arni, of Hetzron, of Peretz, of Y’hudah,
34 of Ya‘akov, of Yitz’chak, of Avraham, of Terach, of Nachor,
35 of S’rug, of Re‘u, of Peleg, of ‘Ever, of Shelah,
36 of Keinan, of Arpakhshad, of Shem, of Noach, of Lemekh,
37 of Metushelach, of Hanokh, of Yered, of Mahalal’el, of Keinan,
38 of Enosh, of Shet, of Adam, of God. (Complete Jewish Bible)
***
Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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