March 6, 2025
Lent: Seeing Jesus - Part 4
Luke 18:32-33
03/06/2025
32 ``For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles
and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit
upon.
33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on
the third day he will rise.'' (ESV)
Jesus told the disciples what was to happen during the
Passover in Jerusalem, how He would accomplish that which had
been foretold by the prophets in the Old Testament.
``For [the Son of Man] will be delivered over to the
Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and
spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him,
and on the third day he will rise.''
The season of Lent is a time of somber reflection on the
enormity of our rebellion against God, of our sins against the
Almighty and our neighbors. In the Church building, purple
adorns our altar. There are no flowers, the crosses are veiled,
and the joyful hymns of praise are silent.
But the season of Lent is also a time of preparation. Even
as the lessons each week take us closer to the cross, even as our
gathering becomes more somber, there is the hope which Jesus
gives. Yes, He was betrayed, abandoned, tortured, whipped,
humiliated, and killed. There was no time to render the proper
respect for burial, just the hurried internment with the promise
of proper cleaning and entombment on the third day.
Jesus promised the resurrection. The great prophetic Psalm
of David, which begins with the cry of anguish, ends with the
triumphant victory of life. Jonah's three days in the large fish
was a foretaste of Jesus' three days in the tomb. Isaiah and
Daniel and Hosea[1] all point to the death and resurrection of
the Messiah.
Therefore, even in the midst of tragedy, even in the midst
of unjust persecution, we have the hope of everlasting life.
Yes, Jesus predicted His death. He also proclaimed His
resurrection.
May our Lord give you hope even in your darkest hours in the
sure and certain knowledge that after Lent comes Easter. Amen.
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1. Psalm 22; Jonah 2:5; Isaiah 53:10-11; Daniel 12:2-3; Hosea
6:1-2