Holy Week Devotional: Monday
A Holy Week Reflection Series on the 7 Stages of Disaster Recovery
(based on the Year C lectionary readings)
Monday: Survival
Scripture: John 12:1-11
Jesus has known all along that he would not survive. Three times he predicts that the Son of Man will suffer and die and then rise again (Mark 8:31–32; 9:31;10:33).
And yet, even though Jesus knows that he will not survive – all of his actions are directed towards life. Jesus’ whole purpose on this earth was that we might know God and experience life abundant.
As we work with those affected by disaster, the pain of just trying to survive may be a present or easily remembered wound. When we experience trauma, whether in a sudden shift from a storm or a long-unraveling medical diagnosis or slow crumbling of a relationship, we tend to hunker down – our gaze constricts, clouded by disbelief and fear, sometimes even fading altogether.
To move beyond survival and towards wholeness, for Jesus, and for us, requires raising our heads, lifting our gaze toward the rocky, dusted, pitted path that juts out before us.
For Jesus, this was the road that led to the cross, to life on the other side.
During Holy Week, beginning today and ending with Easter Sunday, we will walk alongside Jesus on the road to the cross. Each day we will consider the pain, confusion, love and sacrifice that mark that road, and how Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection offer us more than mere survival, but wholeness and redemption.
Questions for Reflection: Have you been in survival mode lately? How have your daily actions and thoughts been directed toward life and God’s abundance?
Prayer:
Christ our God,
your love is poured out in death for our sakes.
Hold us in your embrace
as we wait for Easter's dawn.
Comfort us with the promise that no power on earth, not even death itself,
can separate us from your love;
and strengthen us to wait
until you are revealed to us
in all your risen glory. Amen.
(from The Revised Common Lectionary)
(based on the Year C lectionary readings)
Monday: Survival
Scripture: John 12:1-11
Jesus has known all along that he would not survive. Three times he predicts that the Son of Man will suffer and die and then rise again (Mark 8:31–32; 9:31;10:33).
And yet, even though Jesus knows that he will not survive – all of his actions are directed towards life. Jesus’ whole purpose on this earth was that we might know God and experience life abundant.
As we work with those affected by disaster, the pain of just trying to survive may be a present or easily remembered wound. When we experience trauma, whether in a sudden shift from a storm or a long-unraveling medical diagnosis or slow crumbling of a relationship, we tend to hunker down – our gaze constricts, clouded by disbelief and fear, sometimes even fading altogether.
To move beyond survival and towards wholeness, for Jesus, and for us, requires raising our heads, lifting our gaze toward the rocky, dusted, pitted path that juts out before us.
For Jesus, this was the road that led to the cross, to life on the other side.
During Holy Week, beginning today and ending with Easter Sunday, we will walk alongside Jesus on the road to the cross. Each day we will consider the pain, confusion, love and sacrifice that mark that road, and how Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection offer us more than mere survival, but wholeness and redemption.
Questions for Reflection: Have you been in survival mode lately? How have your daily actions and thoughts been directed toward life and God’s abundance?
Prayer:
Christ our God,
your love is poured out in death for our sakes.
Hold us in your embrace
as we wait for Easter's dawn.
Comfort us with the promise that no power on earth, not even death itself,
can separate us from your love;
and strengthen us to wait
until you are revealed to us
in all your risen glory. Amen.
(from The Revised Common Lectionary)
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