This Lent we follow Jesus as he faces evil in the hours before his death. What is evil? Who is doing evil against Jesus during Passion Week? What are ways in which we are complicit in evil? Do we take evil seriously? As we experience evil in our own lives, discover how Jesus stands in the face of evil.
Invocation
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, who delivers us from all evil.
Invitation Prayer
Lord, you know the evil that comes when we are alone. You prayed in the Garden while your friends were asleep. You faced the agony of death and evil alone. Do not leave or forsake us in our isolation. Draw near in the dark of night when no one else is around. Have mercy, O Lord, Amen.
Word
Luke 22:44
“And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground”
Meditation: The Cost of Sin by Jo Saleska Lange
When I was in college, I frequently attended an Antiochian Orthodox church with a friend of mine who was a member there. Having grown up Lutheran, I sometimes struggled to follow along with these services—the liturgy and hymns were beautiful, but different from what I was used to, and the priests often spoke or chanted in Arabic. One Lenten service was especially memorable: Partway through a prayer, the congregants filed out of the pews and squeezed into the church aisles, where they began repeatedly prostrating. Over and over, they called out for Christ’s mercy, fell to their knees, pressed their foreheads to the ground, then stood up again.
I had never prayed this way before, but I didn’t really have a choice except to join in. So down and up I went, feeling awkward and self-conscious, the rug burning my bare kneecaps each time I hit the ground. At the time, I found the whole ordeal bizarre and uncomfortable, maybe even a little humiliating. But as I reflect some years later, I see that discomfort and humiliation is exactly the point. Prostration is a position of humility before God. And it is also a physical acknowledgement of our repeated fall into sin.
I do not like to dwell on the weight of my sin. I much prefer to say a quick prayer for forgiveness and then move along with my day. After all, it’s easy to be cavalier about our sins when we know that someone else paid the price for them.
But verses like Luke 22:44 remind us of what our sins really cost. Here, we see Jesus as we’ve never seen him before: utterly terrified. Jesus is so frightened, in fact, that “his sweat became like drops of blood falling down to the ground.” He knows that in a few hours he will suffer through betrayals, beatings, and the brutality of crucifixion. Moreover, he knows that by taking on the sins of the entire world as he dies on the cross, he will experience God’s divine wrath—a punishment that we deserve, but which Christ will willingly take in our place.
In this season of Lent, let us remember that our sin was the cause of Jesus’s fear as he prayed in Gethsemane. Let us assume a posture of true humility before the Lord as we consider the vast weight of that sin, and what it cost Jesus to bear on our behalf.
Lord Jesus Christ, forgive me for so often overlooking the true cost of my sins. Thank you for bearing the weight of my sins on the cross, and for enduring God’s wrath on my behalf. Amen.
Sending
In the face of evil, may God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ fill you with every spiritual blessing. Go in his name, Amen.