His Life

 

On Palm Sunday, a friend texted me the inspirational graphic shown here. It prompted me to re-read chapters 21-28 in the Gospel of Matthew, which tell how Jesus spent the last week of His life. I was struck afresh at how focused He stayed while knowing death awaited Him.

On Sunday of what is now known as Holy Week, excited crowds lined the road and cheered as He approached the city. But their euphoria and loyalty faded before Thursday. Key leaders who had rejected Him continued to do and say things that turned that fickle crowd against Him and led to His arrest and crucifixion.

Despite the chaos, Jesus chose to stay visible rather than hide out. For example, He went to the temple that Monday. And when He saw people buying and selling, Jesus became so angry that they had made His Father’s house “a den of thieves” that He turned over the tables of the "money changers." 

Even as people plotted against Him, He continued to teach His disciples, to weep over Jerusalem, to spend quality time with those closest to Him, and to pray for them (and for you and me), as well as for Himself. 

During that week, one of His closest disciples betrayed Him.

 Another one denied even knowing Him. 

He was falsely accused. 

The crowd clamored for the release of a known criminal instead of Him, the sinless Son of God. 

He was taunted, tortured, and humiliated. 

As He suffered unimaginable agony, while also feeling forsaken by God, He prayed, “Father, forgive them. They do not understand what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

As I reflected on how He lived and how He died — fully obedient to the Father, fully willing to give His life so that others may come into a right relationship with God — I thanked God for Jesus. 

I also pondered this question: How closely does my life align with His?

Last Days

Today I read the Biblical accounts (found in the Gospels) of how Jesus spent His last days on this earth. As I compiled a lengthy list, I noticed that, basically, He simply continued to do what He had been doing. He served others by healing them, by teaching them spiritual truths to live by, by answering questions put to Him by His disciples (and by those who didn’t believe He was who He said He was), by preparing them for His departure, and by comforting them with the assurance of His future return and with the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit who would be their indwelling teacher and comforter.

Since He had always done whatever pleased the Father, Jesus needed to make no major changes in His daily practices. However, by the end of the week, He would face His greatest challenge and, thereby, teach the greatest lesson of all: how to obey the Father and to serve Him and others with great love, even though He would suffer--and die--in the process.

As I reflected on His example, I thought:

• Is my life so aligned with the Father’s will that I wouldn’t need to dramatically alter what I’m doing if I knew I would die within a week? 
• Can I say, as Jesus did, “I always do the will of the Father,” that I obey my Father at all times--no matter the high cost of obedience? 
• Can I truthfully say to God, what Jesus said in John 17:4, “I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave me to do”? 

If not, I must begin TODAY to fully align my will with His and to let my daily attitudes and actions be in accordance with His wishes.