Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Zechariah 9-12; Luke 23:26-56
The first verse in our reading from Zechariah that stood out to me was
9:9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey
Jesus, who was righteous, came humbly to save us. He came to offer forgiveness to all of us. We are all sinners in need of forgiveness.
This ties into the other verse I highlighted later in chapter 10,
10:6 I will strengthen Judah and save the tribes of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them. They will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.
Just as God forgave and restored Judah, His son offers to forgive and restore us. Once forgiven, our sins are forgotten and we can be free. This is true freedom that satisfies, which is unlike the freedom we think we have in Canada where we can do what we want under the law. Freedom found after forgiveness is what we should crave, not the ability to do what we want with our material items, which only temporarily satisfies.
In our reading from Luke, we see in verse 28 how Jesus was focused on saving souls, even at one of His most painful times,
28: Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children
Jesus could have focused on Himself, He was in extreme pain and stress, and knew the worst was yet to come. But He loved those around enough to warn them that the real tragedy is not what He was going through, but those that don't accept Him as their Lord and Saviour.
Another thing that I took note of was how the one criminal that hung beside Jesus was wise enough to recognize that Jesus was righteous and able to save. This man made a last minute conversion and will therefore be waiting for us in Heaven. Goes to show it's never to late as long as a person is still breathing.
Again, the story of Jesus being crucified is extremely humbling, and an amazing display of His love for us. We can never repay this, but we can ask for forgiveness and give our lives to Him, then join Him one day in Heaven!
3 comments:
The last minute conversion stood out for me too. One day it will be too late but as long as you make the decision before that you will receive the reward. I think this passage reminds me of the prodigal son. I've never been a fan or that parable because I sympathize with the older son who never gets a party for doing all the right things. However when I read this passage today I was reminded that it's not how you start or where your journey leads but how it ends that truly matters.
The part in the NT that stood out to me was what Nathan touched on too about Jesus not putting the focus on Himself. He knew what He was doing and did not loose focus of that. We need to remain focused too. Focused on God so we can be with Him one day in Heaven.
I love the part where the temple curtain is ripped in two, signifying our ability to come to God through Jesus and not through any earthly mediator.
All the OT prophecies that speak of Jesus' suffering and death, yet the people could not reconcile that with their vision of the Messiah. It shows how easily we can read scripture through a lens, only seeing what we want to see.
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