Midweek Minute in Mark: Mar 31
Sometimes I wonder if we too easily forget the incredible price that Jesus paid on the cross for our sins.
On typical Easter mornings, we put on our new outfits (maybe our new athleisure this year!), dress our kids up, and go to church to celebrate. We take pictures and come home for a family meal. Which is wonderful and fun and sweet! However, sometimes it seems we skip from Palm Sunday to Easter and miss all that lies in between. And the problem with this is that we often miss the cost, the agony, the actual, literal death that Jesus died.
Mark tells us that Jesus hung on a cross and cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Imagine that…Jesus, God’s very own son, felt abandoned by His Father! Some writers have reflected that perhaps Jesus was crying out in agony as he tasted for us the very essence of hell – separation from God. Perhaps this depth of feeling we hear in Jesus’ cry was what Paul was getting at in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.”
Today, as we read these words from Mark, we are invited to sit in the pain and the reality of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Mark did not skip over it. He might have been more economical with his words than other gospel writers, but he didn’t just skip it.
We know the end of the story (Praise God!), but at the time the disciples would have been confused, terrified, and full of despair. Take a moment to re-read Mark 15 or listen to it here. Imagine yourself in the scene and put yourself in the shoes of the disciples. What are you feeling? What are you thinking? Take a few minutes to pray and share your thoughts with God.
Don’t worry, Easter is coming. And we will celebrate!
But for today, and until then, let’s reflect. Let’s attempt to take in and even understand in a very small way, the incredible, costly gift that was given through Jesus’ death on the cross.
Blessings,
Katie