November 6 - Beyond the Veil

And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. (Mark 15:38 ESV)

Sometimes when reading the Old Testament it can come across as extremely old and a bit weird. There are over 600 rules mentioned in just the first five books. And a lot of those rules sound very silly to us today. But there was a reason for them. Many of them God put in place as a type of protection for the Jews, but some of them fall into a category theologians call typology—meaning they reference Christ in some way as a symbolic figure.

The giant curtain that hung in the Temple was important to God's people. During the Temple days it was all that separated sinful man from the holy presence of almighty God. One man passed over to the other side once a year. Once. His job was to make a sacrifice that covered the sins of the people for the next year.

The curtain ripping at the moment of Christ's death was no accident. Jesus was God-made-flesh, sacrifice, and great High Priest. Only God could do the work to restore the relationship between himself and man. God did it. Jesus died, and where only one man was allowed annually, now all can go. Jesus brought down the curtain so that all can experience the presence of God in their lives. All can go beyond the veil.

November 4 - Breath of God

And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. (Mark 15:37 ESV)

In the beginning God made the heavens and He made the Earth. He made all of the beautiful vistas and unbelievably epic sunsets. Then he wadded up some dirt, ever so carefully, and breathed life into it, and called it Adam.

Adam went on to disobey God and lead his family into sin. A choice which set a course for the remainder of all of humanity, and even history itself. Someone would have to account for the sinfulness of man. And we were found to be entirely incapable of the task at hand.

But God had always known the score. He knew Adam would fail to lead his family. He knew sin would enter the world. And He knew He would need to take on the form of man and become Jesus. He knew it all. He knew it before Adam breathed that first breath drawn straight from the breath of God.

God's breath put life in our lungs and limbs. It inspired us to create. To reach for the cosmos and ceases wonders by the tail. It called us on to follow Him. To love Him. And to serve Him. But when we were incapable He did not abandon us.

Our Heavenly Father did not forget His people when they failed Him. He did not forsake us when we cursed Him. Instead, He became one of us. And then, He died for us, so that with His last breath we might become like Him.

October 20 - Choosing to Believe

Mark 15:21-32

"Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. (Mark 15:32 ESV)

As Jesus hung upon the cross there were many people gathered to watch the horrible event unfold. Many of the onlookers were hostile, but not all of them. Some that had gathered were believers, and still others were not. Those that had yet to believe were frightening the cruelty of the crucifixion by heaping prideful mockery upon Christ.

We don't know the numbers but many people who followed Jesus to Golgotha where he was crucified were there to lament and mourn for him. There also were those present who did not believe. But the one defining difference in the two groups was their ideas about who Jesus was. It was a difference of belief.

My position is that belief is a choice. You choose what you do or do not believe. The scribes and religious people regularly asked Jesus to perform signs, but when he did they didn't meet their super religious criteria, or they somehow cut out their scandalous religious pyramid scheme. So those guys chose not to believe in Jesus despite all the miracles he had performed in front of their eyes.

They taunted him. Casting their doubts in the form of dangling skepticism and might-have-been-belief, but the simple truth is that they had chosen not to believe Jesus was the messiah. What do you believe?

October 15 - Crown of Thorns

Mark 15:16-20

And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. (Mark 15:17 ESV) </blockquote>

Shortly after my third birthday I was playing in the front yard of the small house my parents rented. As I pushed this small toy truck along at a three-year-old's pace I ran straight through a large rose bush. To this day I still bare the scar on my arm from the deep cut. Because thorns hurt. They cut. And they cut deep.

Christ's cruel tormentors took sadistic pleasure in fashioning their instrument of agony out of thorns and thrusting it upon his brow. I can only truly imagine how horrible it must have been as the sharp points gouged his skin and scraped along the thin covering of the human skull.

Though he was crowned in mockery and brutality—Jesus was a king. Jesus is a King. He is The King. And in him, you and I find adoption into royalty. We find a calling away that lifts us above our own inadequacies, insecurities, and frailties. Jesus bore that crown of thorns so that we might wear a crown of peace.

October 14 - Scarlet Robes

Matthew 27: 27-31

And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, (Matthew 27:28 ESV)

Have you ever been horribly embarrassed by something? Have you ever felt like all of your problems or insecurities were put on display by someone else? Those kinds of situations can be both heart breaking and deeply shameful.

Jesus was perfectly sinless. He had nothing to hide, no skeletons in his closet, and yet his persecutors still attempted to shame him. They plucked his beard, which was a cultural sign of masculinity. They mocked, beat, and disrobed him—replacing his clothes with garments meant to mock his royalty. They were out to not only kill him, but they were trying to destroy his image.

Jesus claim to divinity reaches across history as unique. Not because he is the only man to ever claim to be God, but because he is the only man ever to actually be God. To those trying to kill him and undermine his message, it won't be done. Try as you might to wrap him in scarlet robes, and parade him through a gauntlet of brutality and cruelty—Jesus is the Son of God. He is God-with-us. Any attempt to mock his royalty only serves to illuminate it.

October 13 - He Has Borne

Isaiah 53:4-6, Matthew 27:26, Mark 15:15

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6 ESV)

Scourging was a horribly grotesque punishment. It was so barbaric and brutal that many actually died as a result. Yet Jesus endured.

Just as the prophet Isaiah foretold nearly three millennia ago, Jesus was harmed beyond human recognition. I find it comforting to know that as difficult as life may sometimes be, it is not outside of the reach of the comfort of Christ. He was our substitution. He was our replacement.

He has borne our sorrows, anguish, and calamities. He knows the depths of our troubled souls. He has entered into the pit of Hell and returned victorious—brandishing eternal life and salvation for all who would enter his tender care.

October 6 - Satisfy the Crowd

Mark 15:6-15

So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. (Mark 15:15 ESV)

Peer pressure stinks. No one likes feeling the speculative weight of a mob settling over them. Rarely are the expectations of culture and society easy to manage. The Romans did it by shaping the culture of their conquered lands to reflect their own—and it was wildly successful.

For Pilate, as he scrambled for some reason to release the innocent Jesus, and avoid a riotous uprising, the pressure became too much. The cost was too much. Pilate gave in to the crowd. Jesus would be crucified to appease the bloodlust of the fickle mob—while the murderous brigand Barabbas went free.

Thinking back across my life I can recall many of my own moments when I sought to satisfy the crowd. Stupid decisions, hurtful things, and regrettable memories were made under the pressure exerted from outside sources. Because the mob can be ruthless, their judgment can be merciless, and it takes a strength that comes from something bigger and better than myself to resist.

As I have matured this has nearly became a non-issue. I am my own man. I don't feel the need to impress or be impressed. I have freedom and security from all of that, but only because I found it in Jesus. I don't have to fear the mob all because Pilate wished to satisfy the crowd.

September 30 - You Have Said

Mark 15:1-5

And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” (Mark 15:2 ESV)

The Jewish council, called the Sanhedrin, had met secretly in the middle of the night on the heels of the Passover meal. They had sentenced Jesus secretly, and then rushed him out at dawn to Pilate, the Roman governor—seeking the death penalty.

Pilate had one question for Jesus. "Are you the king?" It was an important question that carried a lot of implications. The truth to that question had ramifications that stretched across governments, cultures, and creation itself.

Jesus never backed down from his identity. The Gospels paint a repeatedly pointed picture of Jesus the Son of God. He was the King of the Jews, and the King of Kings. So why the strange reply?

I believe that Jesus is often more concerned with who we say that he is. Now, make no mistake, he will declare himself King one day—and scripture says that when that happens every knee will bow. But Jesus wanted to know who Pilate said that he was. He often wanted to hear who people said he was. Why?

Because who you think Jesus is matters. If he is just a good moral teacher and man, well that kind of view has no far reaching eternal implications. If you believe he was the perfect Son of God, who died for your sins, then that is a different matter altogether. Jesus just wants to know who you have said he is, and what you're going to do about it.