Holy Week - Easter 2022Sample

In Luke’s Gospel account of Jesus’ trials, Pilate declares Jesus’ innocence (Luke 23:4, 23:15, 23:22). The Bible makes it very clear: Jesus was innocent. He had committed no sin, no crime, as prophesied in Isaiah 53:9 (ESV), “…although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.” But the religious leaders desired and expected a Messiah who was a political warrior king that would save them from Roman rule, restoring Israel to its glory among the nations. What they could not see was that Jesus came to save them from an enemy far worse than Rome. A ruler who was even crueler than they realized: sin. Despite his innocence, he took on our guilt, that we might be eternally rescued from that which destroys us. As in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus had been preaching the Kingdom of God: believe and repent. He aimed to obey the Father and gather the lambs to himself, saving them from their greatest enemy: sin. Even in anguish and impending death, Jesus stops to teach. He warns the women on the side of the road of impending judgment (Luke 23:27-31). And later on the cross, under immense suffering, Jesus is still found offering opportunity for redemption to those who repent and believe, like the thief on the cross (Luke 23:40-43). He came for our hearts. This Messiah offered the world far more and far better riches than we could have conceived for ourselves: salvation from sin. And Jesus would, in the end, defeat sin; that evil leash that choked God’s creation for generations.

Read: Hebrews 12:1-4 (ESV) ”Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

REFLECTION

Prayer: As God saw sin as the greatest enemy to his children, ask God to reveal where you have allowed sin to creep into your heart and take root. Take time today to ask the Father to uproot sin in your life that you may have deemed as “acceptable.” Pray this: “Lord, may I never grow accustomed to sin, that very thing which You saw fit to annihilate by way of the cross of Christ. Empower me with resolve to persevere and endure as I follow Your Son, Jesus.“