Tag: death

Grave: To Impress or Fix (as a thought) Deeply

Calvary’s mournful mountain climb; there adoring at his feet,

Mark that miracle of time, God’s own sacrifice complete.

“It is finished!” hear him cry; learn of Jesus Christ to die.

(James Montgomery)

 

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Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal. (John 12:24-25 The Message)

Listen carefully: Two men approach the cross at dusk, asking to take Jesus to prepare his body for burial. In a garden nearby, they wash His blood-crusted wounds and swaddle Him in burial cloths, to lay him in a virgin tomb.

Listen carefully: The officials send soldiers to seal the tomb for extra insurance. To keep any radical disciples from stealing the body in the dark of the night. The soldiers keep watch through the long, dark night. And so does the Father, who never sleeps nor slumbers.

Listen carefully: Owls hoot. Leaves rustle. Soldiers shift their feet to keep awake. A rumble in the distance. The indigo night begins to fade to blue-gray, as the sun journeys from its slumber.

Listen carefully: The rush of wings. A bird of prey? Or the wind playing tricks on the sleep deprived soldiers? Blinding light obscures their sight, and the stone shudders, as if in an earthquake. They fall to their knees speechless.

Listen carefully: New life is bursting through the ground, as the green leaf pushes through the soil. Yellow jonquils greet the first light of day, their blooms bobbing in the morning breeze, as if agreeing that joy comes in the morning.

Posted on by kelrohlf 4

un(stoppable): incapable of being stopped

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:3 ESV)

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Unstoppable, Jesus set His face toward the steep hill. Step by excruciating step. Searing pain emanating from His back weighed down, under the burden of His cross. Carrying death on His raw, bleeding back, so we could rest easy. So we might not grow weary. He endured it all without regret, for us to embrace peace, experience joy and cling to hope in the face of our own versions of suffering.

Before Jesus offered Himself on the cross, before He died, He challenged the disciples to follow Him by denying themselves and taking up their cross daily. He was using this metaphor to foreshadow the way He would die.

Yet, I often wonder, what the disciples thought He meant. Why would He make a reference to taking up the cross, how morbid? That was how criminals died. They weren’t criminals.

Yet, haven’t we been robbing God since the beginning of time? Stealing His glory. Congratulating ourselves. Look at me! Look what I did!

All in vain, because the Father isn’t interested in our accomplishments, He wants our company. Jesus invites us to give up our self-effort. Then we will be unstoppable, just like Him!

 Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat—I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? (Luke 9:23-25 The Message)

 

 

Posted on by kelrohlf 2