The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

• Hebrews 13:11-16

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
    he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
    I will call on him as long as I live.
The cords of death entangled me,
    the anguish of the grave came over me;
    I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
    “Lord, save me!”
The Lord is gracious and righteous;
    our God is full of compassion.
The Lord protects the unwary;
    when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return to your rest, my soul,
    for the Lord has been good to you.

• Psalm 116:1-7

“Christ shed tears at the grave of Lazarus and sweated blood in Gethsemane: the Life of Lives that was in Him detested this penal obscenity not less than we do, but more. On the other hand, only he who loses his life will save it. We are baptised into the death of Christ, and it is the remedy for the Fall. Death is, in fact, what some mod-ern people call ‘ambivalent’. It is Satan’s great weapon and also God’s great weapon: it is holy and unholy; our supreme disgrace and our only hope; the thing Christ came to conquer and the means by which he conquered.”

• C.S. Lewis, Preparing for Easter (from Miracles, chapter “The Grand Miracle”)

Boilerplate

First, the concept of Lent is the preparation for what is to come, the anniversary of Christ’s death and resurrection between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  But in some denominations, the entire time from Advent, the anticipation of Christ’s coming (remembrance of His birth but preparation for His return) to Easter (Christ’s resurrection from the dead)…  This bracket of time is a celebration of the entire life of Jesus Christ on earth.  Christ’s conception to His ascension and on to the Holy Spirit coming upon the Apostles at Pentecost can be presented and celebrated from early December until Pentecost Sunday.

Many denominations only focus on Christmas and Easter, or maybe the entirety of Holy Week from Palm Sunday to Easter, and then may or may not focus on Pentecost.

But for those that recognize Lent, the Lenten season in many denominations has an element of fasting.  Sadly, this is done as Jesus teaches us not to do.  They make a big deal out of it when we should do it in private, something just between us and God.  But that tradition stems from the forty days of fasting that Jesus did in the wilderness after His baptism and before His ministry started.  The Lenten season is kicked off on Ash Wednesday.  And after forty days, we reach Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week.  The concept of ashes is symbolized by at least one denomination having a cross painted on their forehead in ashes, sometimes from burning the palm fronds from the previous Palm Sunday the year before.  Again, that draws attention to the fact that they have started their fast.  But they are also announcing that they are Christians.  There is good and bad there.

So, when we are in the Lenten season, what should we focus on?  It depends.  We should focus on Jesus, but we might want to focus on our service to God.  What can we do better?  How can we spread the Gospel?  From Conception to Pentecost…  His mission was completed on earth, but He left us with something to do.

As for the Lewis book, it comes from a compilation of Lewis’ writings, edited by Zachry Kincaid.  In the book, there is a devotion, of sorts, from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday, the Lenten Season.  Each devotion contains suggested Scriptures and a writing of C.S. Lewis.

Last year, I used my free time posts, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday afternoons (EST) to correspond with that day’s devotion in the book.  I am picking a day that I did not use last year.

Discussion

I have heard more than one preacher state that Jesus came to earth on a mission, and that mission was to die for our sins.

Sure, that was the ultimate goal, but why did Jesus die for our sins?

God loves us, and He wants those of us who love Him and trust His Son to love Him right back, for eternity.

If Jesus came here only to die for our sins, why did He perform all the miracles?  Why did He do all the teaching of the disciples?

There is the argument that He had to prove who He was.  Even in speaking in parables, He fulfilled Old Testament prophecy.  For those who understand what Jesus had to do to prove He was who He said He was, you would have to be well educated, but those folks rejected Him.  The disciples were taught through the Holy Spirit.  They begam to understand at Pentecost when the church was born.

But there is something deeper going on here.  Jesus came to die for our sins.  To be the One prophesied about, He had to prove Himself to be God and Man.  But He came here to experience love from a human perspective.

When Jesus walked this earth, He felt what it feels like to laugh and cry.  He felt grief.  He felt Joy.  He felt anxiety.  Anyone who sweats blood as Jesus did at Gethsemane is someone under intense stress.

And when Jesus hung on the cross, He felt the abandonment of God the Father.  God the Father could not look upon His Son due to the sins of the world that had been placed upon Him, so, the sky turned dark.

So, when we feel all alone, unable to put a dent in the walls that are closing in around us, we can turn to Jesus.  We can cry out.  And Jesus can honestly reply, “I know.  I felt the same way.  And I will never leave you.  We will get through this together.”

In this week, Holy Week, I spend a lot of time thinking of the crucifixion.  My Dad fussed at me about that.  Our Savior is not a Savior nailed to a tree, but a Savior who died, was buried, and rose from the dead.  But I know that I sin.  I know that I have sinned a lot in my life.  And I find it helpful to realize the agony Jesus went through for me.  He loves me so much that He has felt the pain that I feel, and pain so much worse.  I can trust Him in everything.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.