Thoughts and Meditations – Page 187 – The Lighthouse & The New Normal

The Hope in the Darkness

Posted on April 7, 2023April 8, 2023 by Brian Burdett

“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.” – Mark 15:33

This week celebrates the week that changed the world! At the beginning of the week, Jesus rode into Jerusalem in triumph, hailed as the new king of Israel. By the end of the week, Jesus would be crucified, dead, and buried. Then came that glorious Sunday morning when the resurrected Jesus left the grave behind, victorious over sin and death!

Jesus, the Light of the World, was dying. He’d been arrested and confined over night. He’d been rushed through a parody of a trial that was nothing more than a mob threatening a riot. He’d been beaten and brutally flogged. He’d carried His cross, the instrument of His own death, to the place outside the city called Golgotha, “the Place of the Skull”. There He was nailed to a cross and raised up into the air to die in agony.

After three hours of terrible suffering, darkness fell over the land. The Light of the World was dying and the world became dark. Jesus had been present at creation. All things in the universe were made through Him. He was the sustainer of the universe. And yet, our sin and evil nailed Him to a cross to die. As He hung there, hour after hour, He carried the weight of our sins on Himself. As He hung there in darkness, struggling to breathe, God’s wrath for our sins washed over Him.

Jesus didn’t die on that cross because of anything He did. Jesus never once disobeyed God’s will and plan. Jesus never once rebelled against God’s good and rightful authority. Jesus never once sinned. But we have. Many times. And that’s why Jesus hung there. To atone for our disobedience, rebellion, and sin.

Darkness fell over the land until Jesus finished His work. Once your sin was completely paid for along with the sin of everyone else, Jesus cried out one last time and died. In that moment, the veil of the temple that separated sinful mankind from our holy God was torn from top to bottom. Jesus had finished His work on the cross. Now, praise God, there’s nothing separating us from our God in Heaven! Believe in Jesus. Repent of the sins He’s already died for. #FollowJesus

The Weight of the World

Posted on April 6, 2023April 8, 2023 by Brian Burdett

“And he said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’” – Mark 14:36

This week celebrates the week that changed the world! At the beginning of the week, Jesus rode into Jerusalem in triumph, hailed as the new king of Israel. By the end of the week, Jesus would be crucified, dead, and buried. Then came that glorious Sunday morning when the resurrected Jesus left the grave behind, victorious over sin and death!

Thursday was a solemn night of fellowship, teaching, prayer, and betrayal. After the Passover meal, Jesus led His disciples out to the olive trees of Gethsemane. There He spent hours in agonized prayer. His soul was in deep turmoil that night. Not only would He soon be betrayed by a close friend and follower…. Not only would He be arrested, humiliated, tortured, and unjustly condemned to a brutally painful death…. Jesus was about to carry the weight of all your sins and those of the rest of the world.

Jesus had never sinned in His entire life, but He was about to carry the weight of all the world’s sins, past, present, and future. As fully a man, He would suffer in agony as our representative. He would experience what we should experience for our sins. As fully God, He would suffer the horror of becoming the embodiment of all that is rebellious and hateful toward His beloved Father. More than that, He was about to experience all of God’s holy, righteous, justified wrath for our sins. The eternal Son of God who’d never experienced anything other than God’s love since before time began was about to drink everything that was in God’s foaming cup of wrath for sin. This is the cup Jesus prayed would pass from Him.

Nonetheless, Jesus was faithful! He submitted to God’s eternal and good plan of salvation. He went forward from Gethsemane to the cross. He drank the cup. For you. For the world. He did this so that everyone who trusts in Him as Lord and Savior will be forgiven their sins and receive eternal life. Will you #FollowJesus?

The Path You Walk

Posted on April 5, 2023April 5, 2023 by Brian Burdett

“It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him” – Mark 14:1

This week celebrates the week that changed the world! At the beginning of the week, Jesus rode into Jerusalem in triumph, hailed as the new king of Israel. By the end of the week, Jesus would be crucified, dead, and buried. Then came that glorious Sunday morning when the resurrected Jesus left the grave behind, victorious over sin and death!

By the middle of the week, the plot to kill Jesus was underway. His clear claim to be Messiah, His brilliant answers to every challenge, and His direct condemnation of the religious status quo in Jerusalem was simply too much to bear! Those in power needed Jesus dead before the people turned on them or the Romans crushed the city’s messianic fervor. Rather than embrace the possibility that Jesus really was who He said He was, the leadership just wanted Him dead.

Jesus was, and remains, a threat to entrenched structures of religious power. Jesus was, and remains, a threat to those accumulating riches in the name of God. Jesus was, and remains, a threat to those who talk about holiness but don’t live it themselves. Jesus was, and remains, a threat to anyone who claims to be a leader but won’t lead in a godly manner. People will always oppose those walking in the way of Jesus.

Ultimately, however, we must remember that the death of Jesus was the eternal will of God. This is why Jesus came to earth – to die on the cross. And so, God used the wickedness, pettiness, greed, and jealousy of these false teachers and priests to send His Son to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. This is the path Jesus had been walking for a long time, the one leading to the cross. This is also the path He invites each of His followers to walk.

Jesus is inviting you to walk the path of authentic faith and obedience to Him. He’s inviting you to walk the path of personal holiness, vulnerability, and humility. He’s inviting you to walk the path that leads to your own cross each day. Will you #FollowJesus?

That Cursed Fig Tree

Posted on April 4, 2023April 4, 2023 by Brian Burdett

“As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.’” – Mark 11:20-21

This week celebrates the week that changed the world! At the beginning of the week, Jesus rode into Jerusalem in triumph, hailed as the new king of Israel. By the end of the week, Jesus would be crucified, dead, and buried. Then came that glorious Sunday morning when the resurrected Jesus left the grave behind, victorious over sin and death!

On Tuesday morning, the disciples marveled at the fig tree Jesus had cursed the day before. In one short day, it had withered to its roots. Many today wonder why Jesus did this. They ask what had that poor fig tree done? The answer is that it had the misfortune of representing all that was wrong with the religious leadership of Israel!

The fig tree itself was a symbol of Israel. This particular fig tree had been leafy and green, looking great from a distance. Up close, though, it wasn’t fruitful. This is how the religious leadership was at that time. They looked GREAT from a distance. Very holy, very righteous, very faithful. They had rules upon rules upon rules for being holy on the outside. Inside they were rotten. Spiritually dead. Full of hypocrisy, pride, greed, and condemnation toward others. They were making everyone in their care farther from God rather than closer. All leaf, no fruit. Like the fig tree.

What Jesus did to the fig tree represents what God was doing to the religious leaders of the day. Rejecting their appearance of holy fruitfulness and condemning their continued lack of actual fruitfulness. The cursing of the fig tree was a symbol of the condemnation of the religious leadership. What happened to that tree was what was happening in the temple as Jesus debated and condemned the leaders throughout that week.

As we consider the fig tree today, we should honestly reflect on ourselves. In what aspects of our lives do we look leafy and fruitful on the outside while falling short of Jesus’ commands and expectations inside? How are we like those Pharisees Christ condemned when He cursed that fig tree? #FollowJesus

The Week That Changed the World

Posted on April 3, 2023April 4, 2023 by Brian Burdett

“And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.” – Mark 11:15

This week celebrates the week that changed the world! At the beginning of the week, Jesus rode into Jerusalem in triumph, hailed as the new king of Israel. By the end of the week, Jesus would be crucified, dead, and buried. Then came that glorious Sunday morning when the resurrected Jesus left the grave behind, victorious over sin and death!

Throughout the week, there was tremendous conflict and profound teaching. On Monday, Jesus entered the city and began cleaning the filth that infected God’s Temple. The Temple was built to a holy place of worship, a beacon drawing people from all over the world to meet, pray, and worship God. Sadly, it had become a bazaar, a marketplace, a vast money-making operation built to overcharge and exploit travelers. Rather than set up business outside the grounds of the Temple, dishonest business was being done on God’s property.

No doubt, many celebrated the convenience of being able to take care of business on their way in and out. But the worship of God isn’t supposed to be about what’s convenient. It’s supposed to be pure, holy, and devoted. It should take some effort. It’s must be about wholehearted devotion to God in heaven. All the buying, selling, and negotiating cheapened and darkened all that. God’s house of prayer had truly become a den of thieves!

Jesus turned it all over! Grab ahold of the zeal of Jesus in that moment. Let His zeal become a powerful desire in yourself to worship and pray without distraction. Pray often and worship often, disciplining yourself do it without the thoughts and distractions of business and finances in your mind. As a Christian, your body is now God’s Temple – live with a zeal for holy devotion to God in worship and prayer.

#FollowJesus