If you’ve ever had to say goodbye to someone, you treasure the last words spoken. You remember what was said. You hold on to those final words. For Lent in 2021, we are focusing on the last words of Jesus from the cross. What did he say? What does it mean for us? How do those words change us? This week, we focus on the word “compassion.” In an act of compassion, Jesus cared for his widowed mother by commending her to his disciple John. Even as he was dying on the cross, he looked down in love and said, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Invitation Prayer
O God, the Psalm says, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.” (Psalm 103:13) So I am quick to run to you. I know you look on me with compassion. So I come to you first. I rush into your arms. I speak into your ear. As my Father in heaven, hear my voice today. In Jesus name, Amen.
Confession
Forgive my sins, O Lord – forgive me the sins of my present and the sins of my past, the sins of my soul and the sins of my body; the sins which I have done to please myself, and the sins which I have done to please others. Forgive me my wasted and idle sins, forgive me my serious and deliberate sins, forgive me those sins which I know and those sins which I know not, the sins which I have labored so to hide from others that I have hid them from my own memory. Forgive them, O Lord, forgive them all.
Word
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” (I Cor. 15:3-5)
Meditation
It’s another Sunday in Lent. We focus our gaze on Christ our Life, who rose on Easter. Remember the historical nature of the Christian faith. Listen to Paul in I Corinthians 15:
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” (I Cor. 15:3-5)
The Christian faith is grounded in history. Ours is not a mystical religion. Christianity is founded on the account of eyewitnesses. The supernatural was witnessed by natural, normal human beings. Paul notes that the resurrected Jesus appeared to the disciples, and even hundreds of people at one time (I Cor. 15:6). Imagine the shock and awe of those who witnessed a dead man walking. By faith, we share the same amazement.
On this Sunday, focus on this resurrection verse. If you have not already, memorize it. Thank God for witnesses to the resurrection.
Sending Prayer
Lord of compassion, you have called us into a new family by the blood of your cross. Give us your spirit of compassion that we might love one another as you have loved us. You love me and you send me. I now go in your name. Amen.
*Today’s devotion is taken from It Is Finished by Jeff Cloeter, published by CTA – Christ to All at ctainc.com