Holy week devotionals

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Saturday – empty space

In three out of the four Gospels after the burial of Jesus on Good Friday, there is no mention of anything that happens on Saturday. Matthew talks about how the Jewish religious leaders, still manipulating Pilate, convince him to seal the tomb and place a royal guard around the entrance to the tomb for fear of the disciples stealing the body (which will become very important later as evidence for the resurrection), but other than that, not one of them…

Maundy Thursday – Just stay awake

I really like to sleep. If I am being totally transparent, I have struggled with anxiety and intrusive thoughts for the majority of my adult life, and sleep is a bit of an escape. It takes me to a place where the worries and the thoughts I just can’t shake can’t touch me, even if just for a few hours. When I am asleep, I don’t have to carry the burdens of my day, I can close my eyes and…

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Wednesday – A party with perfume 

I am not one for perfume. Sure I like things that smell good, but I have yet to smell a perfume that doesn’t have a twinge of “fake” to it. My wife uses a lavender soap, and that works just fine. I don’t walk through department stores much anymore (the internet is a great place to shop), but when I do, I am nearly knocked unconscious by the overwhelming myriad of smells that take up residence at the perfume station.…

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The greatest story ever told

John 20:1–10 (ESV) Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with…

Today, we weep

John 19:38–42 (ESV) After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in…

Was I, worth that?

John 15:5–15 (ESV) I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be…

Wash us clean

John 13:4–16 (ESV) He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him,…

Lucky, not lonely

John 13:1–4 (ESV) Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from…

“Please tell me that’s not what He said…”

John 12:44–50 (ESV) - Jesus Came to Save the World And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge…

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One week to live

John 12:27–36 (ESV) - The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus…