Texts:

Morning
1. Psalm 55
2. Mark 12:1-11
Evening
1. Psalm 74
2. Mark 12:1-11
Hymn
1. Christ the Lord is Risen Today, in anticipation of Easter
Prayer
1. Our Gracious God and Heavenly Father, You have loved us, even when we were dead in our sins. Your grace made us alive together with Christ. You have called us out of darkness and into your light. We confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. Forgive us, O God, and bless us by your Spirit, that we might have the courage to walk in the good works to which you have called us, to the praise of your glorious name, Amen.

Devotional: Mark 11:27-33
Rev. Martin Antoon:

At this point, we’re starting to get pretty accustomed to suffering, aren’t we? For some of us, it looks like being cooped up in the house for hours and days on end, burdened by the absence of consistency. For others, it looks like lost jobs or the fear of their impending end. For some of us, our suffering comes in the form of loved ones who are in danger of getting infected, or worse, loved ones who are sick. The perpetual sense of suffering has started to color everything that we do and every thought that we have. “I didn’t ask for this,” we think to ourselves. The knowledge that we tried to keep ourselves at a distance seems to offer some consolation. If we ascribe our condition to some impersonal force, we can try to alleviate its sting.

Jesus was also familiar with suffering during His life. He brings our attention to Psalm 118 to reveal the depths of this suffering. He is the stone that the builders rejected. Considering the imagery creates a vivid scene. In the grand construction of this “kingdom” being built by others, this particular stone is to be cast aside in rejection. We have no use for it here. It’s worthless. So was Jesus considered to the world. Yet never for a moment did Jesus think to Himself, “I didn’t ask for this.” In fact, He volunteered Himself to be the stone that the builders rejected. Unlike our suffering, He willingly entered into His. And His suffering was personal. It was from those who He came to save, us included.

As we spend this week reflecting on Jesus’s final week of suffering, let’s use our present suffering to remind us of something important – Jesus’s hurt wasn’t some abstract idea of pain. It was as real, piercing, and tangible as the suffering that we have felt amidst the virus. And it was pain that we caused Him. And rather than saying “I didn’t ask for this,” Jesus presses on, knowing that the fate of the cross awaits Him. And He does it precisely so our present suffering would not be in vain. Jesus doesn’t just love you when it’s convenient, He loves you even when it’s hard for you to love Him back.