On this Easter 2018, let’s acknowledge this Simple Truth of Scripture: 

Jesus is Risen. 

Luke 24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them,

 “Why do you look for the living among the dead?

6 He is not here; he has risen!

Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” 8 Then they remembered his words.

This Simple Truth makes all the difference in the world. 

• The grave could not hold Him.  In Him, it cannot hold you back either. 
• Death is a defeated enemy and the battle is won.  Jesus Christ is victorious and won the battle against death, a victory won for you and won for me, too. 
• Sin’s curse and the wages of sin and death have been paid in full. 
• In Christ, we are forgiven.  In Him, we are free indeed!  In Him, we no longer need to be slaves to sin or fear death. 
• In Christ and Christ alone, we have hope…hope of a resurrection, of an eternity in the presence of God, of strength for today and reward set in heaven for our perseverance in faith. 

We have confidence that what He said is Simple Truth: 

John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

It’s Holy Saturday and Jesus is dead and buried.  Have you ever wondered why Jesus had to die to conquer death?  After all, He’s God and nothing is impossible for Him.

I don’t really have an answer, nor do I feel like many words will do it justice.  I have to simply trust that God–all wise, all powerful, all loving, all gracious, all resourceful, all creative, all capable—would have chosen another way had it been more effective and just as God-honoring.  Even Jesus had asked in deepest prayer, Matthew 26:39 “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Why Did Jesus Have to Die to Conquer Death? Because death was the enemy; and the Cross and the grave were the battleground.     

Food for thought:

On this Holy Saturday, Jesus’ cold, dead body is in the grave.  Let that sink in.

Meditate on Peter’s speech in Acts 2:25 David said about him: “‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, 27 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’ 29 “Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30 But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.

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This concludes the Lent 2018 devotional series, Pi and Chi: Asking and Answering Questions Why .  If you’re on my email list, you’ll continue to receive periodic devotionals and random gardening posts from me.  Thank you for being with me during Lent.  Do have a blessed Easter tomorrow.  As always, I appreciate your feedback and your encouragement, both here and on Facebook.  I am your servant.  To God be the glory.  Barbara

Good Friday is hard to explain.  To those outside the family of faith, it just doesn’t compute that a God of love would have His Son die at the hands of those He was dying to save.  Add on top of that the sheer bloody nature of the whole Crucifixion event and frankly, it’s easy to see why people wouldn’t want to think about it.

Beyond the easy answer “to fulfill Scripture” (which is, in fact, a good answer) maybe deeper thought reveals another answer to the question, “Why is That Whole Thing So Gorey?”  It would be so much easier to explain and teach if Jesus had marched into Jerusalem, stripped to His skivvies, and just told the Romans to crucify Him.  He could have told people to mock and insult Him.  And while it would still be bloody and insulting, it wouldn’t be nearly as graphic as the events leading up to the Cross.

Why is That Whole Thing So Gorey?  Because it shows us what God thinks of sin.

• To the man in ISIS who beheads foreign captives, Jesus says, “I suffered and died for that.” 
• To the woman who is a porn star and parades her sin life all over tabloid TV that used to be called news, Jesus says, “I suffered and died for that, too.” 
• To the girl who brazenly marches in the women’s march who has aborted babies 3 times as birth control with no remorse whatsoever, Jesus says, “I suffered and died for that.” 
• To the white man with racist rants on social media, Jesus says, “I suffered and died for that, too.” 

To the abortionist, the bomber, the shooter, the drug pusher, and the pimp…the Crucifixion is what God holds up as His answer to your sin. 

No sin is so great, no possession by any Legion of demons, no horror committed can separate us from the love of God if we’ll only come to Him, repent, confess His lordship, and receive His forgiveness.

That is the reason we do not understand “Good Friday.”  To us, it’s graphic and bloody and gross.  To God, it’s a price-tag displaying for the world to see, the cost of sin—both the big and bloody and the little white lies no one knows but us.

So the next time you read an account of the Crucifixion and you’re bothered by all the suffering and blood, just remember this is the cost of sin. ( Matthew 27:11-44 ; Mark 15:1-32 ; Luke 23:8-38 ;  John 19:1-22 ) 

John 19: 10 Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, … “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. 16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 Here they crucified him, and with him two others– one on each side and Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Food for thought: 

• In the Life of Pi that we’ve been using to launch our 40 questions Why, the vegetarian Pi is hungry and as he watches the empty banana net swirling in the water, he gets an idea.  “One of the dorados gets very close to the net – Pi realizes his opportunity. He hauls in the netting and wrestles the dorado onto the raft… Pi grabs a hatchet from the raft and strikes the fish over and over again. As the fish begins to die, it flashes all kinds of colors in rapid succession – blue, green, red, gold and violet flicker and shimmer neon-like on its surface. Pi starts back, watching this colorful display in terrified wonder. Finally, the fish ebbs to grey, lifeless. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’”
• On Holy Week, Good Friday is probably the holiest of days.  Do you see the price tag visible?  Do you know the cost of sin?

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For Lent 2018, we’ve been exploring the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We’ve asked and answered questions “Why?” and  have been reminding ourselves about the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice.  The period of Lent ends shortly, but you can revisit any of these devotionals through the archives ( which began February 14, 2018) and you can enjoy the next series “Simple Truths” by liking Seminary Gal on Facebook or having these devotionals sent to your email box which you can do via the sign-up on my Home page.  Thank you for blessing me with this opportunity to study together the Word of God.

===

Acknowledging that former years’ devotional series remain popular:

1. Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
2.  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
3. Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
4. ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
5. Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.

Things we don’t make a point to remember … become things we easily forget.  They move to the back recesses of our mind, have little influence on our lives, little power to inform our daily decisions, and little impact upon our behavior. 

Jesus didn’t want His ministry to be relegated to the dust heap of history. 

Not when His ministry would change the trajectory of eternity for many millions of people … forever.

Mark 14:12 “On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” 13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him … 16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. 

Up to this point, it’s just a regular Passover like the one celebrated year after year–a command to be observed as a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. It was God’s promise to pass over the homes having doorposts obediently painted with blood of a sacrificial lamb.  The angel of death did not touch those whose faith was in God and protected by the blood.

Jesus comes and changes everything. It becomes a different remembrance. 

***

Mark 14:17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me– one who is eating with me.” 19 They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely not I?” 20 “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” 22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” 23 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.”

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus identifies the Passover observance as a new covenant in His blood.  Matthew 26: 26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. “

Why Did Jesus Celebrate the Passover for Remembrance?  Because He didn’t want us to forget the significance and power of His sacrifice.

Food for thought:

• The Apostle Paul amplifies this thought: 1 Corinthians 11:25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 
• Why did Jesus choose a simple act of bread and cup as a forever remembrance of the difference Jesus makes?  Why not something more complicated?  Why is eating the Passover meal a helpful way of remembering?
• In the movie Life of Pi that we’ve been using as our launch for 40 days of questions, Pi talks about lessons he remembered from Mamaji on how to survive by swimming and avoid drowning, lessons from his father about natural instincts of an animal and how forgetting that gets you killed, and even the writer brings to mind what Pi had almost forgotten: “I haven’t spoken about Richard Parker in so many years…” Why do we forget things we do not actively remember, rehearse, and relive?  

Join me tomorrow for Why is That Whole Thing So Gorey?  What’s so good about Good Friday?

==

For Lent 2018, we’ll explore the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We’ll ask and answer the question “Why?” as we discover the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.  Join me for the 40 days of Lent which began February 14, 2018 by liking Seminary Gal on Facebook or having these devotionals sent to your email box which you can do via the sign-up on my Home page.  Thank you for blessing me with this opportunity to study together the Word of God.

===

Acknowledging that former years’ devotional series remain popular:

1. Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
2.  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
3. Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
4. ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
5. Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.

Passion Week takes a sad turn.  The excitement of the Triumphal Entry is in the rear-view mirror.  The crowds have gone back to their daily grind.  “Why is it still the same-old-same-old when we’ve got the Messiah?”, might have been the question uttered at the well, on the streets and in the fields.  Why are the Romans still in charge?  Where is the change we were promised?  Are we not the Chosen People?  Why are we not vindicated?  It’s centuries before the concept of impeachment will arise, yet the disillusioned already have begun their Resist campaign.  Get rid of this guy.

Those Pharisees, who never really liked this upstart Jesus too much, also have had their fill of what He’s doing and are jealous, even angry, at the attention He’d been getting.  They’re offended by Him and planning, even plotting to take Him out. After all, what Rabbinical school did He go to?   What were His credentials? Who in the name of Moses, does He think He is? 

Even among Jesus’ disciples.  The one who was proclaimed “among those born of women there is no one greater than John,” that is John the Baptist, has already been second-guessing, Luke 7: 19 John the Baptist sent [two men] to the Lord to ask,

Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Then there are the Twelve.  Had they concluded Jesus had His priorities wrong or consumed too much Mogen David?  He lets some woman pour perfume on His head and big bucks of pure nard down the drain!  (Mark 14: 4-9 vs 4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.”) 

This event planted betrayal in the heart of Judas.  Judas was probably one of those indignant.  (Never mind he held the money purse and was doing a little skimming off the top).  Who knows what the surface motivation for betrayal was? 

Why did Judas betray Jesus?  Because betrayal was in his heart.

Mark 14:10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. 11 They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Food for thought:

• Yes, Scripture says that the Christ must suffer and die.  But other than to fulfill Scripture, is there another reason for all the suffering?  Couldn’t Jesus have just gone to the Cross without all the abuse?
• In what ways might betrayal and suffering offer a dark counterbalance-a world of sin reminder-that promotes our believing in God?
• In the movie Life of Pi that we’ve been using for this Lenten devotional series, the writer was sent by Pi’s “Mamaji” an ‘honorary uncle’ because the writer had been told,
  • “He said you had a story that would make me believe in God .
  • ADULT PI replies, “ As for God, I can only tell you my story; you will decide for yourself what you believe.”
• One blogger, a journalism student named Paige Beresford writes, “Instead, his story is set up to help readers consider which version of the world they prefer – the one where we make our own way and suffer through the darkness via self-determination, or the one where we are aided by something greater than ourselves, regardless of which version of “God” we may accept.” (Again reminding ourselves Life of Pi is not a Christian film). 
• In what ways might the darkness of betrayal and suffering hold a mirror to our earthly existence of sin and prepare us for what the death of Christ would accomplish?

Join me tomorrow for Why Did Jesus Celebrate the Passover for Remembrance?

==

For Lent 2018, we’ll explore the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We’ll ask and answer the question “Why?” as we discover the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.  Join me for the 40 days of Lent which began February 14, 2018 by liking Seminary Gal on Facebook or having these devotionals sent to your email box which you can do via the sign-up on my Home page.  Thank you for blessing me with this opportunity to study together the Word of God.

===

Acknowledging that former years’ devotional series remain popular:

1. Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
2.  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
3. Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
4. ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
5. Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.

Most of us are unprepared to be betrayed.  We probably all feel it at some point in our lives.  People we trust go behind our backs.  People we think are friends turn out to be enemies.  People we love who do the worst of the worst to us. 

As we continue our series Pi and Chi, Asking and Answering Questions Why, we can see that betrayal is what Pi experienced in the cook (whose identity was the hyena in his animal story) killing the sailor (the injured zebra) to use him for fish bait.  The sacrifice of one to save others.  But the sailor wasn’t willing.  He wasn’t willing to be betrayed.  He wasn’t willing to die sacrificially.

Jesus was. 

It was meltdown time.  Jesus tells the disciples He’s going to be betrayed.  They ought to be grieving for how their Teacher is going to be treated.  But what do they do?  Ignore everything Jesus just said and secretly look instead to get a leg up on their fellow disciples.  Betrayals come in many sizes, both large and small.

Matthew 20:17 Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” 20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. 21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” 22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. 23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.” 24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave– 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Why Did They Turn on Him?  Because they had no idea what it means to serve.

Food for thought: 

• In thinking over instances where you’ve been betrayed, how did you react?  See Matthew 5:44-48. 
• Have you ever betrayed someone? 
• Has it ever been brought to light and if so, how did you respond? 
• If your betrayal of someone has never been reconciled, what actions can you take today?  For insight, Read Matthew 5:21-26

==

For Lent 2018, we’ll explore the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We’ll ask and answer the question “Why?” as we discover the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.  Join me for the 40 days of Lent which began February 14, 2018 by liking Seminary Gal on Facebook or having these devotionals sent to your email box which you can do via the sign-up on my Home page.  Thank you for blessing me with this opportunity to study together the Word of God.

===

Acknowledging that former years’ devotional series remain popular:

1. Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
2.  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
3. Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
4. ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
5. Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.

We all know that feeling of elation when it seems like our dreams are coming true.  For some of us, it will be a simple rain shower on a parched land.  Or like Pi in our devotional series Pi and Chi, Asking and Answering Questions Why launched from the movie Life of Pi.  He was thirsty but all of his cans of drinking water had been thrown overboard when the whale breached and his raft took a watery tumble.  Pi was thirsty and he celebrated when it began to rain, answering his thirst as he collected the rain water to drink when surrounded only by salty sea water. 

Maybe your feelings of joy are bigger or over things less basic: a new car or a relationship.  Maybe some kind of answer to prayer and a problem to be resolved.  On Palm Sunday, a day we commemorated Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, there was Messianic fervor among all the people—finally an answer to their prayers! 

***

The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!” (John 12:12-13) 

Why were they celebrating?  Because the Messiah has come! 

Some celebrations are short-lived, however.  Such is the case with Passion Week. 

Ironically, the celebration was short-lived not because Jesus failed in His Messianic role, but because He fulfilled it…perfectly, eternally, and fully. 

He just didn’t do it by their rules.

Food for thought: 

• What types of things do you celebrate?  Are they generally basic or more superficial in the eternal scope? 
• What do our expectations have to do with celebrating?  Read 1 Corinthians 2:8 “None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” 
• Is there a difference when we expect a certain outcome and it happens vs. when we expect a certain outcome in a specific way and we just don’t see our expectations met?

Join me tomorrow for Why Did They Turn on Him? 

==

For Lent 2018, we’ll explore the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We’ll ask and answer the question “Why?” as we discover the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.  Join me for the 40 days of Lent which began February 14, 2018 by liking Seminary Gal on Facebook or having these devotionals sent to your email box which you can do via the sign-up on my Home page.  Thank you for blessing me with this opportunity to study together the Word of God.

===

Acknowledging that former years’ devotional series remain popular:

1. Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
2.  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
3. Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
4. ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
5. Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.

Mark 11:1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.'” 4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!” 11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple.

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Devotionals for Lent 2018, Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One) continue tomorrow with Passion Week!  We’ll continue to ask and answer the question “Why?” and discover the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.  Join me for the 40 days of Lent which began February 14, 2018 by liking Seminary Gal on Facebook or having these devotionals sent to your email box which you can do via the sign-up on my Home page.  Thank you for blessing me with this opportunity to study together the Word of God.

===

Acknowledging that former years’ devotional series remain popular:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
• A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• .Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.

Alone and afraid.  Alone, yes, but you still have your thoughts—your fears and regrets—to keep you company.  Alone and facing the predator within.  The predator whose constant presence threatens to steal your joy and your peace.  Pi knew what it meant to be afraid, alone out on the ocean with a Bengal tiger to remind him of many dangers on the raft or in the boat amid turbulent waves.

We’re nearing our final week of Pi and Chi, Asking and Answering Questions Why which was inspired from thinking through scenes from the Life of Pi.  True, it’s not a Christian film, but one that can prompt us to think theologically about life and accept that we have many questions…and many fewer answers.  The questions we have are grounded in an earthly existence in which there are gods of our own making soliciting on every corner.  Ah, but the answers we have are found in Christ…alone.

Mark 4: 35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

***

Jesus is not just some Teacher. 

“Who is this?” the disciples ask, a question whose answer ought to instill a holy fear far greater than that of any earthly fear of a storm.

Jesus connects the question “Why Are You So Afraid?” with a lack of faith.  By doing so, He addresses the disciples’ fear and refocuses the lesser terror of a storm.  As the wind and sea are immediately and completely calmed, they begin to see a good reason they should really be afraid: they don’t know who is in their boat.

Food for thought: 

• In Matthew 10:18-42, Jesus teaches us who and what we are to fear, saying in verse 28 “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”  Are you ever afraid to share the Gospel with someone, worried perhaps that you will offend them?
• Do you truly know Who is this whom even the wind and waves obey? 
• How well do you let Him rule your earthly every-day? 

Join me again on Monday for Passion Week which we begin by asking Why Were They Celebrating?   

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For Lent 2018, we’ll explore the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We’ll ask and answer the question “Why?” as we discover the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.  Join me for the 40 days of Lent which began February 14, 2018 by liking Seminary Gal on Facebook or having these devotionals sent to your email box which you can do via the sign-up on my Home page.  Thank you for blessing me with this opportunity to study together the Word of God.

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Acknowledging that former years’ devotional series remain popular:

1. Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
2.  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
3. Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
4. ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
5. Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.

In the Life of Pi, the movie we’ve been using as our launch for 40 days worth of questions, there is a certain skepticism, an incredulity, a doubt in the minds of the investigators of the shipwreck.  The investigators want to know why the ship sank and are frustrated that Pi isn’t bringing them any closer to the answers.  Answers they were willing to believe…

• YOUNG PI  Because I don’t know. I was asleep…What else do you want from me? 
• CHIBA A story that won’t make us look like fools.
• OKAMOTO We need a simpler story for our report. One our company can understand. A story we can all believe.
• YOUNG PI So…. a story without things you never seen before 
• OKAMOTO That’s right.

The truth is we’re more likely to doubt things we’ve never seen.  If seeing is believing, not seeing and still believing requires faith.

In the Scriptures, Jesus offers a very interesting moment when He asks “Why Do You Doubt?”, having already answered, because you have little faith.

Matthew 14: 25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” 32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

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Food for thought:

• What types of challenges exist for your faith and result in doubt?
• Why would the investigators have wanted a simpler story of easily understood predictabilities? 
• In your life of faith, do you ever find yourself wanting things to be simpler and more predictable? 

Join me tomorrow for Why Should You Be Afraid? 

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For Lent 2018, we’ll explore the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We’ll ask and answer the question “Why?” as we discover the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.  Join me for the 40 days of Lent which began February 14, 2018 by liking Seminary Gal on Facebook or having these devotionals sent to your email box which you can do via the sign-up on my Home page.  Thank you for blessing me with this opportunity to study together the Word of God.

===

Acknowledging that former years’ devotional series remain popular:

1. Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
2.  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
3. Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
4. ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
5. Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.