Devotional Reading 3

This is the third week of the Lenten journey "in the desert with Jesus." Each week many of you have been keeping up with reading a different Gospel account of the last week of Jesus' life. This has been for centuries a common spiritual practice as a way to lead up and prepare one's heart spiritually to receive the gift of Easter.

This week we are reading Luke 19:28 - 24:53 (six chapters).

Pass this along to someone else. And share what God is helping you to see.


A page from my journal this week:
Exactly at the moment that Jesus dies on the cross a centurion, leader of the forces that actually carried out the crucifixion, exclaims, "Truly this man was God's son." He is the first human in Mark's Gospel to call Jesus God's Son. That's huge in part because not even Jesus' own followers speak of him this way in the story. It's also huge because it comes on the lips of a centurion. According the imperial theology only the emperor was considered God's son. Not only that but they consider the emperor a Savior, the only one able to bring peace on earth. Yet, here in this statement made by this centurion is a representative of Rome that says Jesus is Son of God - therefore the emperor is not! In what ways do I live and react that puts other powers more powerful than Jesus, God's son? ~mtd.

Devotional Reading 2

We have called our congregation and friends to spend the 40 days of Lent reading the different Gospel accounts of the last week of Jesus' life. This week we will be reading Mark's version which can be found in Mark 11:1 - 16:8 (six chapters). We made some helpful suggestions for what you could do while you're reading each week in the last entry.

May God add God's blessing to the reading of the Word this week! Amen!

Share what gets stirred up in you...it might benefit someone else.

A page from my journal:

As I was reading the last week of Jesus' life from Matthew's Gospel, I was struck by the manner in which Jesus entered Jerusalem. He road in on a donkey. As much as Jesus, the offering of the crowd also struck me. They shout in praise "Hosanna to the Son of David." That term would have shocked most of the hearers into a recognition that Jesus was challenging the political powers that be. Son of David would have conjured up images of a return to the days of old when the kingdom of Israel was at it's height ~ a condition that would require that the Roman Empire be thrown out of that part of the world! Can you imagine the way that the people are stirred up by an image such as this during the beginning of the Passover celebration? Indeed, Matthew says in verse 10, "And when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?" No wonder they take Jesus seriously and want to silence him in the end. Makes me wonder about how sanitized my Jesus often is. I fail to see most of the time that Jesus was down in the nitty gritty aspects of life and that his life and way challenged and changed things. How is Jesus challenging and changing me? How is Jesus working through me to change things in the world? mtd.

Devotional Reading 1

Many people read the account of the last week of Jesus' life in each of the Gospels, each week between now and Easter, as a spiritual practice. The events of Jesus' last week began with Jesus' entry into Jersulem and ended with his crucifixion and resurrection. Each week we are sending out the specific reference and are inviting you to read and go deeper in your spiritual life.

This week we are inviting you to read the last week of Jesus' life from Matthew 21-28 (that's a little over 1 chapter each day)... If you are interested in reading this on line, here's a link to Bible Gateway

Here are some suggestions:

• Set aside a time each day to read a chapter or two - or - one day each week to read the whole section at once.
• Pray before you read a simple prayer: eg., "Lord I want to go deeper in your Spirit, so that I can go farther in my faith."
• Create an effective environment - eg., light a candle, turn down the lights, get quiet...
• Invite your spouse or a good friend or someone you're trying to get to know to join you, and take turns reading
• Read a chapter a day or the whole section many times this week
• Reflect on what you are reading and keep a journal (or laptop) handy to write down insights and stirrings - You'll be amazed later when you read them!
• Share with someone else what insights and stirrings you are having - this keeps the things you see alive and active, and may bless someone.

May the Lord bless your time and open you up to something new!