Our Day of Atonement

A Lenten series on Mountaintop Moments
– Jesus on Mount Calvary (Golgotha)
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Mark 15:21-41 

[In this Lenten series, we will be looking at Mountaintop Moments. These mountains are more than just geographical features. They symbolize divine encounters and moments of revelation, faith and transformation. In other words, meeting God on the mountain top.]

  

In 2004, Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ was released. It was an epic drama about the final twelve hours of Jesus’ life focusing on his suffering and crucifixion. 

If you saw the movie, you know how graphic and violent it was. But living it for real must have been horrific.

 

Following Jesus’ arrest at Gethsemane, he was subjected to a kangaroo court, both from the Jewish religious leaders and the Romans. The result was a conviction that condemned Jesus to death by crucifixion. There was no death worse than this, and the Romans had become experts at it.

 

After being slapped, spat upon, scourged and ridiculed, Jesus carried his crossbar to Golgotha, which means “Place of the Skull”. It was a site known for crucifixions, with skulls possibly laying on the ground as a reminder. In a macabre scene, the Roman guards drove nails through his hands and feet and placed him on the cross.

 

From 9am until noon, Jesus hung there, possibly naked, or at best with only a loin cloth covering him. He was outside the city gates by a highway where passersby would taunt him. The sign that Pilate had insisted on placing above him mockingly read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews”.

 

Other than John, and a group of women who had helped during his ministry, Jesus had been abandoned by all of his disciples - his closest friends. The crowds who had welcomed him into Jerusalem as the Messiah had now deserted him. From noon until three, “darkness fell across the whole land”.

 

³⁴ Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”     NLT

 

According to scholars, it was at this point that Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world; our sins; yours and mine. His Heavenly Father, who was “holy, holy, holy”, abandoned his only Son, who he loved, because he had become sin. Both Father and Son must have experienced deep despair and heartache.

 

³⁷ Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. ³⁸ And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.        NLT

 

The curtain in the Temple hung between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was considered the dwelling place of God. Because of that, only the High Priest could enter once a year, and then, only on the Day of Atonement to offer a sacrifice for the people’s sins.

 

Jesus’ death was our Day of Atonement. He entered the Holy of Holies, not only as our high priest, but also as the sacrifice for our sins once and for all. Nobody else could have done this. Only Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God.

 

¹² With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.                                   NLT    Hebrews 9

 

²¹ And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, ^22a let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.                NLT   Hebrews 10

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

I Quit!

A Series on Lent
The stories of Passion Week – the disciples
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Luke 22:7-38 

[Lent is a 40-day season of personal reflection with the purpose to prepare your heart to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter. In this series on Lent, we will be looking into the stories of Passion Week. How the people who were directly involved were impacted and how that applies to us today.]

  

After three years of college at Michigan Tech… I quit! Not just transfer but quit! Even though my parents had paid for my schooling, I unilaterally made the decision without consulting them.

 

They had made every sacrifice for me to get an education. Looking back on it, I can only imagine how they felt when I told them my decision. Angry, hurt, frustrated, confused, fearful, concerned. They may have even felt like they failed as parents.

 

Luke 22 tells the story of the Last Supper. It was the Thursday of Passover week and the disciples’ gathered together to celebrate. Passover dates back to when Moses was about to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land.

 

To avoid the impending curse of the death of every first born, each Hebrew household sacrificed a lamb and smeared the blood of the lamb over their doorpost. By doing this, the curse would “pass over” their family.

 

You can picture Jesus and his disciples as they reclined at the table for Passover. Because of the excitement about everything that had recently happened, the conversation may have become quite animated.

 

After all, Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead; He entered Jerusalem like a conquering king; He cleared the temple and faced down the religious leaders. Therefore, just like when Moses had freed the Israelites, the disciples likely assumed that the time had arrived when Jesus would take power.

 

Instead, Jesus said that one of them was going to betray him. Following this, they argued amongst themselves about who was the greatest. Finally, when Simon vowed that he would follow Jesus to prison or even death, Jesus told Simon that he would deny him three times before the next morning.

 

In the Gospel of Matthew version of the Last Supper, Jesus quoted this prophecy from Zechariah to his disciples.

 

³¹ “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:

“‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’                 NIV

 

Like my parents, Jesus may have had the same feelings about his disciples. He had invested in them for three years. They had lived together twenty-four, seven. He had personally picked them, taught them and given them every possible advantage to succeed. Yet they failed because they quit!

 

It’s easy to judge the disciples for deserting Jesus in his hour of need. But before you do, ask yourself this. Have you ever doubted Jesus and not trusted him? Have you ever decided to go your own way? Have you ever disappointed him? Have you ever quit on him?

 

The Good News is that the story didn’t end with the Last Supper. Like the blood of the sacrificial lamb in Egypt that saved the Hebrews, Jesus is our sacrificial lamb. 

The difference is that he was raised from the dead and invites us to sit at the table with him. He is knocking at the door of our heart, waiting for us to open it and let him in.

 

²⁰ “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.                                                                                  Revelation 3             NLT

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

No Pain, No Gain

Hebrews 12:1-3

 

 

“No Pain, No Gain.” That’s what my high school football coaches used to say to us in order to motivate and push us beyond what we would have done otherwise. Human nature, especially teenage human nature, would have said, “This is too much work”! Then given up. But our coaches pushed us beyond our pain.

 

Nobody subjects themselves to pain willingly, but my wife Debbie did. During the past year, she had full knee replacement surgeries on both of her knees. Although she is currently making good progress from the most recent one, it has been much more difficult than the first, as she has suffered excruciating pain at times.

 

Jesus willingly submitted himself to excruciating pain. If you ever saw Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion, you got a very real sense of just how much pain Jesus would have gone through. Besides the physical pain, he experienced the pain of rejection, not only of his closest friends, but also his Heavenly Father.

 

The pain had to be unbearable, but still he did it. Why?

 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  NIV

 

What was “the joy set before him” that motivated him to endure such pain and suffering? Being with his Father again? Knowing that he had been faithful no matter what? Knowing that he had completed his mission so that you and I could be forgiven and live in eternity with our Heavenly Father?

 

“No pain, no gain”. That was certainly true for Jesus. Except, in addition, he suffered our pain so that we wouldn’t have to; he suffered our pain so that we might hear the same words he did from our Father God.

 

“You are my Son (my daughter), whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”         NIV

 

 

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you through this devotional, please feel free to share it with others.)

 

http://lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com/