Scripture: Peter said to (Jesus), "Why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." "Lay down your life for me?" answered Jesus. "In all truth I tell you, before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times." John 13:37-38

Prayer: Day 42—Instead of thinking in retrospect how Peter denied Jesus, let me consider, accept, and learn how my eagerness to do His will sometimes leaves much to be desired in the depth of my compassion, service, and forgiveness.

Response: So the journey of Lent is reaching its end as you are in Holy Week, a time to reflect deeply on the events that you commemorate. This is a time to seek a quiet place and see how Jesus' sacrifice can touch you to the very core of your being. You are not observing some drama in an Off-Broadway theater, but THE drama in your life that is guiding you to eternal salvation. Don't you think that words are impossible to convey the import of what you are witnessing through the gospel accounts and in your life—however young or old, healthy or suffering, surrounded by loved ones or alone you might be.

What would it take to seize your full attention? As a young man working as a waiter, there were occasions when you would drop a large tray to the stone inlaid floor to startle the lingering guests after midnight to pay their bill and leave so you could clean up and depart as well. What would it take for you to grasp now what Jesus is announcing? FULL POST

Scripture: The chief priests, however, had incited the crowd to demand that (Pilate) should release Barabbas for them instead. Then Pilate spoke again, "But in that case, what am I to do with the man you call king of the Jews?" They shouted back, "Crucify him!" Mark 11:11-13

Prayer: Day 40—Let me see myself as Barabbas and reflect on the freedom granted me in Christ's suffering.

Response: Yes, the question to ask, was Christ's suffering and death on the cross, worth the sacrifice? Have you paused to realize in the depth of your heart that it was His suffering and death that earned you your freedom? Hopefully, your response is not an automatic, an unthinking thank you very much as you might parrot to someone, have a nice day.

And equally, prayerfully, would that this freed Barabbas that you are simply does not resume where you left off before your incarceration for self-absorption that was manifest in all the decisions that you made, in all the courageous decisions that you didn't make, in the many times you turned away when approaching the suffering of another because you were pressed for time, when you failed to raise your voice in protest when encountering injustice, and when you did not witness respect—even if silent—when you encountered someone of a different persuasion. FULL POST

Scripture: One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said, "You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see that it is to your advantage that one man should die for the people, rather than that the whole nation should perish." He did not speak in his own person, but as high priest of that year he was prophesying that Jesus was to die for the nation—and not for the nation only, but also to gather together into one the scattered children of God. John 11:49-52

Prayer: Day 39—Help me to grasp the situation then and now in my life.

Response: Yes, to grasp the situation in your life is the challenge—a challenge met with the Lord's grace and love. Who could possibly have anticipated and then believed the significance of Jesus' sacrifice except with the grace freely given that put all into perspective. But please do not try to resolve your historical questions, or even apply them to the Middle East and national boundaries; rather assign the significance to Christ's death and resurrection to your life and to that of loved ones, and those far distant.

Yes, who could have anticipated that you are experiencing the very dawn of salvation in your life— even though outside it is raining and dismal gray—so many years after the historical event brought to fruition—yes, fruition—by Caiaphas' words and prophesy. Surely, Caiaphas would have been the last to catch the truth in his words. FULL POST

Scripture: I called to Yahweh in my anguish, I cried for help to my God; from his Temple he heard my voice, my cry came to his ears. Then the earth quaked and rocked, the mountains' foundations shuddered, they quaked at his blazing anger. Psalm 18:6-7

Prayer: Day 38—Oh, do I hear the power of prayer in David's words addressed to the Yahweh. Help me to follow this model and share David's experience in the shudder of what at first seemed an imposing challenge in my life journey.

Response: And just what could the challenge be—health issues, coping with loss or consuming grief, loss of financial stability, concern for loved ones or those caught in the cycle of violence? One's list could be endless, yet David's list would rival or surpass any that one could create this morning and expand upon it tomorrow and the day after. It is not the length of the list, or even comparing one's list with that of another; rather, what is to be drawn from these verses is the need before any other obligation is addressed to call upon Yahweh in one's anguish.

Then, be present, that is, be conscious, to hear the thunder of His response even if the person alongside can hear nothing, to feel the quake as if one is standing on a fault line. Experience the Lord's response in your life—that deep abiding presence and comfort that rocks you to your foundation—even if you had not foretold the measure of healing received that is all encompassing. FULL POST

Scripture: The Jews then said, "You are not fifty yet, and you have seen Abraham!" Jesus replied: "In all truth I tell you, before Abraham ever was, I am." John 8:57-58

Prayer: Day 37—These verses are so familiar; each time I read them, they seize my attention and I am astounded. Help me to yield to this stunning truth.

Response: The reaction to the verse is like over hearing someone say something that sounds outrageous, perhaps in a group of students assembled in a corridor after class. The first reaction of many might be, you said what? Though on the outer perimeter of the group, you move in closer to see more clearly the facial expression of the speaker to see if he gives away whether he was being serious or not. You notice that there is no change in his demeanor; in fact, you conclude he is even more intense by the flash in his eyes. No words follow and before anyone can react, he is gone.

And so, the words before Abraham ever was, I am continue to be reverberate in your mind that struggles to make sense of the contradiction, while your heart in a self-imposed silence begins to plumb the mystery, bursting asunder like a lightning strike on chronological time, and in that instant you get a hint of eternity in the Lord's time and timelessness. FULL POST

Scripture: To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said: "If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32

Prayer: Day 36—Let me not read these words as if carved on a monument, but rather as they are written on my heart.

Response: Consider the declaration and promise the Lord made in these verses and now makes to you this morning. You will come to know the truth. It is like sitting at a desk with references books opened wide and treatises scattered about—a few having fallen to the floor. Such is the state you are in as you search for answers to these simple questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? You become even more frantic as you search over the years of your life and gaze at the things and possessions that you devote and devoted so much time to accumulate. And more, you look over with regret at loved ones who might be doing the same or those in the world who don't even have the time except to survive the elements or turmoil in their lives.

And then, at precisely the moment you were about to fling the books to the floor in frustration and give up the search for the answers, you hear at a special moment—a sacred moment indeed—deep within your heart the words resonating clearly: If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free. FULL POST

Scripture: So Jesus said: "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of my own accord. What I say is what the Father has taught me; he who sent me is with me, and has not left me to myself, for I always do what pleases him." John 8: 28-29

Prayer: Day 35—Reading these verses, I hear the word inseparable. Let me sense in my inner most consciousness this union of Father and Son and Holy Spirit as indistinguishable as the clack of thunder with the lightning flash and the roar of the wind.

Response: Rather poetic in the darkness of pre-dawn that also demonstrates what can occur to one in prayer and listening at all hours of the day and night, and in all seasons of life, if one listens intently. How many times have you heard that the Lord speaks to you whether you are properly attired and stable emotionally, or fragile silent in suffering and grief? There is no distinction or separation or disunity in the words of encouragement, comfort that reverberate in your heart.

All that is required of you is to acknowledge that the Lord is He who inseparable from the Master of the Universe in all your actions from the moment you open your eyes to when you close them, weary at the end of the day. The good news is that you are to acknowledge Him at all times in the day, not as someone with eyes down on the ground, in rote prayer, but as someone confronting the environment and world in which one traverses. How else to notice the lost, disguising their disorientation by bold assuredness? How else to refine one's ability to listen with compassion and without judgment? FULL POST

Scripture: (B)ut the angel said to her, "Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God's favor. Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob forever and his reign will have no end. Luke 1:30-33

Prayer: Day 34—This morning, for the first time, it seems, I realized that it is the throne of King David, the same David who killed Goliath and caused Uriah, the Hittite to be killed, and the author of many psalms reflecting his penitence and devotion to the Lord, that is announced to Mary by the angel to become the throne without end that Jesus comes to assume for us.

Response: In this season of Lent, doesn't this insight represent the boundless grace of God—His forgiveness knows no limits. Every possible stain from sin is erased, and you are made clean—even innocent in the presence of the Lord. And further, will you not read henceforth David's psalms with even more attention and devotion when you realize that it was his line for which the Son of Man was to enter and glorify with His presence? FULL POST

Scripture: "No, this is (a new) covenant I shall make with the House of Israel when those days have come," Yahweh declares. "Within them I shall plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I shall be their God and they will be my people. There will be no further need for everyone to teach neighbor or brother, saying, 'Learn to know Yahweh!' No, they will all know me, from the least to the greatest," Yahweh declares," since I shall forgive their guilt and never more call their sin to mind."Jeremiah 31:33-34

Prayer: Day 33—Help me to examine my heart and with your grace of forgiveness stir in me sincere penitence for my sins of omission and commission.

Response: This is an especially joyous time, though you might think this a bit out of place during Lent, to accept responsibility for your transgressions and at the same time to ask forgiveness. It is actually a time of celebration, like the father of the prodigal son who called everyone, even the reluctant and more responsible son, to the feast.

But it should not surprise you when you wake one day and recognize your transgressions and seek forgiveness from the Lord—since you just read, within them I shall plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Pity, you can no longer proclaim to anyone who would listen, we didn't cover that in class. FULL POST

Scripture: One of them, Nicodemus—the same man who had come to Jesus earlier—said to (the chief priests and the Pharisee), "But surely our Law does not allow us to pass judgment on anyone without first giving him a hearing and discovering what he is doing?" To this they answered, "Are you a Galilean too? Go into the matter, and see for yourself: prophets do not arise in Galilee." They all went home, and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. John 7:50—8:1

Prayer: Day 32—Give me the grace to be present—conscious for the events that are unfolding in this plan for my redemption.

Response: See the main characters depicted in these verses: the establishment represented by the chief priests and the Pharisees, the honest questioner—even defender—in Nicodemus, and Jesus the Savior. Times have not changed much in 2000 years, as you read and hear of those in the media who would condemn, those who are not so quick to judgment—if at all, and the Savior who works in us and still allows one the freedom to decide for oneself.

In these verses, you are also guided to suspend judgment when you are bombarded by a cacophony of sound demanding your agreement from the current-day Pharisees whom you support or demand your support —at a minimum do not be so quick to offer your fealty whatever position they occupy; to explore, study, pray for guidance—and even be so bold as to defend the indefensible, the indigent, the lost; always keeping before you the model of Jesus who in all this storm of controversy and anger went to the Mount of Olives. FULL POST