There I lay, face down on the couch telling God that I quit, I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t figure it out, telling Him “I give up.” Literally, in that moment, the moment after I told Him “I give up,” I heard the still, small whisper of a voice lovingly say, “Good, now get up.” So I did. What I didn’t know is that God had already figured it out and answered the prayer I couldn’t. He had kept His promise to me, I just hadn’t seen it with my eyes yet.
If you’re a Christ follower, you likely remember the day that you made the decision to follow and give your life to God. That memory for me is a magical one. A skinny little ten-year-old girl held her best friends’ hand, walked down the center aisle at a tent revival in a small country town on a hot summer night, and asked Jesus into her heart. Magical, right? Insert record scratch here. Although I am grateful for the sweet moment when I gave my life to Him, my true freedom (in Christ) day was more than thirty years later.
How do you handle life when you’re in trouble and heaven is silent? When your back is against the wall and you find yourself between a rock and a hard place and you’ve cried long and loud to God and God gives you no answer?
Justice is a hard thing to both comprehend and explain. But, either way, it’s in our human nature to desire justice, not just for ourselves, but for others as well.
Justice is an ever prevailing topic in every culture in every age because sin is an ever present reality in every culture and every age. Cries for justice (whether voiced or silent) are as common as the rising and the setting of the sun. But just because injustice is ever present, easy solutions are not. There are several reasons for this, but one of the basic ones revolves around the common question: Who gets to define what justice is and isn’t?
Sabbath. A day of rest. Holy Saturday. The gospels don’t share many details about the Saturday before Easter, in fact, Mark gives no account. We know it was Sabbath, so people were not working, in fact, most were probably trying to figure out what just happened.
Nothing was “good” about the day of Jesus’ death. Mark 15:33 describes the scene: “at noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.” After hours of being beaten, mocked and tortured, Jesus cried out “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani,” or “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:33). Moments later He would breathe His last breath.
The Last Supper is likely the most famous meal there ever was. Even those who didn’t grow up in Church are familiar with the story. The name explains it all, Jesus’ last meal with His disciples.
Wednesday is the day that some would label into the darkness. As we read in Mark 14, the events that take place this day are all foreshadowing the death of Jesus. They point us towards the Cross. In verses 1-11, we are confronted with two opposing actions, the woman who recognized Jesus as Lord and poured out her devotion to Him and Judas, a close friend, who betrayed Him.
On this day, in the afternoon, Jesus and His disciples left the city and went to the Mount of Olives. As we read in Mark 13, this is where Jesus has an intentional conversation with His disciples that is meant to explain what will happen in the days to come.