Weekly devotion no 2

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Weekly Devotion no 2
10 April 2020

Bible reading – Mark 14:37-42; 15:33-34, 37

37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Simon,’ he said to Peter, ‘are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’

39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. 40 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.

41 Returning the third time, he said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!’

33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’).

37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

Reflection

It’s hard at the moment as we are required to self-isolate. We miss the physical contact with our family and friends. We know it is important for our own health and the health of others, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

We know that God is with us at all times, but how can He understand what this isolation feels like?

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus agonised in prayer, contemplating the awfulness of the cross, looking for the prayerful support of all his disciples, but especially the three who had been closest to him – and they fall asleep. Jesus was accustomed to spending nights on his own, talking to his Father, but on this occasion he is looking for human companionship and spiritual support. His friends were physically and emotionally distant. Jesus was isolated.

Prior to his crucifixion, all of his disciples ran away. He didn’t have his closest friends there for support. He was isolated.

And on the cross, as he took on the burden of our sin, Jesus was separated from God on our behalf. This isolation from God, his Father, was experienced by Jesus so that we never have to experience it.

On this Good Friday, we are reminded that Jesus can identify with the sense of isolation we feel when we are separated from our loved ones. And because of his death on the cross, we can be confident that God is with us at all times: we will never be isolated from God, our Father. Jesus bore the pain of this isolation for our benefit: demonstrating the depth of his love for us.

Hymn

Verse 1
O the deep deep love of Jesus
Vast unmeasured boundless free
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me
Underneath me all around me
Is the current of Thy love
Leading onward leading homeward
To my glorious rest above

Verse 2
O the deep deep love of Jesus
Spread His praise from shore to shore
How He loveth ever loveth
Changeth never nevermore
How He watches o'er His loved ones
Died to call them all His own
How for them He intercedeth
Watches over them from the throne
Verse 3
O the deep deep love of Jesus
Love of every love the best
'Tis an ocean vast of blessing
'Tis a haven sweet of rest
O the deep deep love of Jesus
'Tis a heaven of heavens to me
And it lifts me up to glory
For it lifts me up to Thee

CCLI:177114  Samuel Trevor Francis

Prayer


Gracious God, on this day we remember the suffering death of Jesus.
He was despised and rejected, oppressed and afflicted,
yet he was prepared to be wounded for our transgressions.
We come overwhelmed by the depth of Jesus' love for us,
and his commitment to defeat evil,
even when that meant his own suffering and his own death.
In his willingness to make us righteous,
he poured himself out to death, even death on a cross,
and so, in response to such love and sacrifice,
we commit ourselves as his disciples to overcome evil with good,
suffering with wholeness, and oppression with justice.
In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.