HOLY WEEK

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Christians have long recognized the significance of the final week of Jesus’ life. We call it “Holy Week.” It is a week like no other.

During this week, Jesus proclaims that “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23).The fullness of time has arrived.

During this week, the Creator of the universe “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”(Phil. 2:8).

During this week, the Promised Messiah “was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

During this week, God our Savior provides eternal salvation to all who trust in Him, “not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy”(Titus 3:5).

In other words, this week is all about the fulfillment of God’s eternal plan to save humanity. It is the week that gives us hope in our present circumstances, and hope for all eternity.

Use this devotional as a tool to reflect on the greatness of our God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Each day has a Scripture text, a brief devotional thought written by one of your pastors, as well as a suggested prayer.

Three words of instruction:1. Open your Bible and read the text each day. We follow the story in the Gospel of John.2. Use the devotional thought to meditate on the amazing truths about Jesus.3. Pray to and worship your Savior.

It is our hope and prayer that this devotional will deepen your love, devotion, and worship as you reflect on the great love that God demonstrates for us through Jesus Christ.

- MBCC Pastors Holy Week 2018

INTRODUCTION

Holy= set apart, distinct, like no other

Week= a period of seven days

Man of Sorrows, what a name

For the Son of God who came

Ruined sinners to reclaim!

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

In my place condemned He stood;

Sealed my pardon with His blood;

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless, we,

Spotless Lamb of God was He;

Full atonement—Can it be?

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die,

“It is finished!” was His cry;

Now in heaven exalted high;

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,

All his ransomed home to bring,

Then anew this song we’ll sing

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

PALMSUNDAYJOHN 12:12-19THE GOD WHO KEEPS PROMISES

Broken promises. It is probably easy to think of a promise made to you that was broken—perhaps by a parent, or a friend, a spouse, or an employer. Unfortunately, we as humans are all too often known for breaking promises, and all too familiar withthe feeling of betrayal.

In contrast, Holy Week reminds us that God always keeps his promises. He has kept his promise to redeem and rescue the broken, sinful human race. We are called to trust and worship the God who keepsHis promises.

Palm Sunday begins Holy Week with one of many fulfilled promises. Visualize what is happening in John 12:12-19: It is a scene of wild celebration, the city of Jerusalem is teeming with tens of thousands of extra people who have arrived

to celebrate the Passover. When Jesus arrives on a donkey, they begin shouting and waving palm branches, screaming “Hosanna!” at the top of their lungs. This is a welcome fit for a king, a king who would bring peace. John says that all this happened, “Just as it is written.”

On Palm Sunday, God fulfills the promise he made in the days of the prophet Zechariah (Zech. 9:9). God promised to send a King who would save his people and bring everlasting peace. Zechariah also says, “On that day, the Lord their God will save them...” (9:16).

Jesus enters Holy Week to fulfill God’s promise to save humankind. He rides into the city of Jerusalem as the Messiah, anointed by God to save us from sin and bring us peace with God.We can trust him to fulfill his promises.

- Marcus Busenitz

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race

you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and

to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility:

Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his

resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you

and the Holy Spirit, one God, for everand ever. Amen.

MONDAYJOHN 12:1-8THE GOD WHO RECLINES AT TABLE

How are we to respond to the overwhelming realities of life? Is your first response to enjoy a meal with friends? In our text today, this is exactly what Jesus does.

In John 12:1-11, after raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus and his friends don’t post it on social media, they don’t call in the newspaper to get their story out. They simply and profoundly enjoy a meal together as friends. If this weren’t enough, Jesus does this very thing knowing that his own death is coming as Judas is about to betray him.

Jesus shares a meal and has fellowship with Lazarus in this story, whom he has raised from the dead (John 11). As we reflect on Holy Week, this is why Jesus came to live and die—to restore fellowship between God and his people. Fellowship is best signified

with a meal. In fact, later in the week Jesus shares another significant meal with his disciples, known as the“Last Supper.”

When Jesus shares this meal with Lazarus and his family, it gives us a picture of the promise that he makes to us. Jesus promises us that after his own death (foreshadowed by Mary’s gift of perfume in v.3) and his own resurrection (foreshadowed by Lazarus’ resurrection in John 11), we will one day recline at table with him in the new heavens and the new earth (Matt. 26:29).

This is the hope of Holy Week. This hope has been secured because of Holy Week. Let us hopefully meditate on this coming day and rejoice.

- Ben Telfair

Almighty God,whose most dear Son went not up to joy

but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified:

Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through

Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

TUESDAYJOHN 12:20-26THE GOD WHO IS GLORIFIED IN HIS DEATH

On His way to the cross Jesus makes a statement to His disciples that would have far-reaching implications for them, as well as for us today. He says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Until this moment the “hour” has always been a future event, but here Jesus proclaims that the hour has arrived. It is time for His death, a death that would bringus to God.

He further explains the significanceof the statement by using the metaphor of a grain of wheat that falls to the earth. “Unless a grain of wheat fall into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” This metaphor beautifully pictures the necessary sacrifice of Jesus. In this picture of the dying grain, Jesus speaks about

his own death that would lead to glory and life not only for Him, but also for all those who believe in Him. Jesus’ death becomes our only way to life—not only for eternity, but also in this life. We bear fruit by dying daily, surrendering our lives to Him. Following Jesus with our lives means going the way He went—the way of sacrifice so that God mightbe glorified.

As we remember the significance of Christ’s death during this Holy Week, may we be encouraged in our daily struggle to follow Christ. Consider the words of the French parish priest, John Vianney: “My God, I offer you this in honor of the moment when you died for me.”

- John Kohlmeyer

O God,by the passion of your blessed Son you

made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may

gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives

and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

WEDNESDAYJOHN 13:21-32THE GOD WHO IS BETRAYED

The word betray means “to be disloyal to a friend or loved one.” In today’s passage Jesus is betrayed by Judas Iscariot, one of his twelve disciples.

Jesus has spent the last three years investing in his relationships with these twelve men who were as close to him as brothers. Over the course of their time together they had laughed, cried, argued and been witness to the greatest miracles known to man. In doing life and ministry together, they had developed a bond that was unique and extreme. The twelve had left family, jobs, and life as they knew it to follow Jesus, and he for his part would sacrifice everything for them.

That’s why in today’s passage, Jesus is “troubled in spirit” when he predicts one of the twelve will betray him. It also explains why the disciples “stared at one another, at a loss to know which one of them he meant”(John 13:22).

In spite of the extravagant love Jesus

had shown to Judas, he decided in his heart to betray Jesus. Betrayal most often comes from those closest to us, from the person you would never imagine could choose to hurt you.

In many ways we are just like Judas. So often we betray Jesus at the heart level when we slowly shift from following him. We follow our own seductive desires for pleasure and gain that are purely driven by our own sinfulness. No matter the “size” of the betrayal, be it big or small, it is always in the faceof the overwhelming love of Jesus.

This Holy Week take some time to examine your heart to see in what way you may be betraying Jesus by the choices you are making. Next, pray that God will help you break down any barriers that would keep you from fully experiencing Jesus’ very best for you! “Above all else guard your heart forout of it flows the wellspring of life” ( Proverbs 4:23).

- Kevin Delaney

Lord God,whose blessed Son our Savior gave his

body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident

of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

As Jesus approaches the culmination of his redemptive work, he sees it necessary to impart two crucial teachings to his disciples (including Judas, who was soon to betray him). Notice that both of these are contrary to our natural tendencies. First, Jesus demonstrates the importance of self-denial in the form of servanthood.To become a servant means to choose to put all others first, regardless ofyour position.

The disciples were following Jesus because they believed him to be the Messiah. They saw Him as a leader worthy to be followed, and not a servant to be emulated. Jesus’ actions surprise them. In this story, Peter’s reaction is natural, he opposes Jesus’ plea to let him wash his feet. Jesus lovingly corrects Peter by bringing to light that unless he embraces Jesus’

act of servanthood on his behalf, he is not worthy of being a part of Jesus. And servanthood is the means through which Peter is called to lead.

As if this lesson isn’t hard enough, Jesus introduces yet another must-have attribute in the life of every believer— to love one another as Jesus has loved them. So this begs the question, how does Jesus love his disciples? In this text, we see there is no need for Jesus to elaborate on the kind of love that He expects His disciples to have for one another.They have observed, felt, and seen this love on display. Soon after these teachings, the disciples are witnesses of this love hanging on a cross for them ... and for us.

- Walter Arroyo

Almighty Father,whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Lord’s Supper

with his own body and blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in

remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a

pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

MAUNDYTHURSDAYJOHN 13:1-17; 31b - 35THE GOD WHO LOVES US BY SERVING US

Good Friday brings an array of emotions and thoughts to mind. Your initial response may be to celebrate the atoning work of Christ on the cross. Or, you may focus more on the sadness and brokenness that was experienced on that day. Jesus—although totally innocent and blameless—is brutally beaten and murdered. This is not fair, how canit be good?

It is not fair, which is why it is good.

We deserved death, but Jesus gave us life. (Romans 6:23) We were hopeless, but Jesus made a way. (Romans 15:13)He is good and His love endures forever. (Psalm 107:1)

In John 19:28-37, Jesus states that he is thirsty, so he is given a drink using the stalk of a hyssop plant. The hyssop plant was traditionally used for ceremonial cleansing, and was

the instrument used to spread blood on door frames during the Passover. The thirst of Jesus brings to mind his encounter with the woman at the well where he offers her living water so that she will never thirst again. On the cross, Jesus offers us living water so that we will never thirst again, and through his blood he makes us clean.

This fulfilled prophecy, which led to his final statement, “It is finished.”

As John Piper says: “It is the worst and best of all human deaths. For on this tree he bears our sins in his body, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. And nowit is finished.”

Today on this Good Friday, may we look back and celebrate becauseit is finished.

- Skot Montgomery

Almighty God,we pray you graciously to behold thisyour family, for whom our Lord JesusChrist was willing to be betrayed, andgiven into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

GOODFRIDAYJOHN 19:28 - 37THE GOD WHO DIES FOR SINNERS

HOLYSATURDAYJOHN 19:38 - 42THE GOD WHO IS LAID IN THE TOMB

Reading this text in the Gospel of John, we are struck with the detailsof death. There’s Joseph of Arimathea, making his debut in John, asking for Jesus’ body; there’s Nicodemus’ reappearance, bringing with him an embalming mixture; there are linen cloths and spices; there’s a garden anda new tomb; there’s the Dayof Preparation.

All of these seemingly minute details point to one central claim: God isin the grave. The One who himselfis the Light and the Life of the world is extinguished and killed. And heis simply laid in the grave, likeevery other person that has come before him.

And it is precisely in him lying in the grave that this Saturday in Holy Week shows its supreme importance for us. Holy Saturday

suffers from middle child syndrome. Finding itself between the events on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, this day is often neglected. But its neglect is unfortunate, because this day powerfully declares that Jesus Christ, our sympathetic Lord and Savior, sympathizes with us even in our deaths. Holy Saturday declares that Jesus has gone into the domain of Death, the great enemy of humankind. And through Death’s own methods — that is, death itself — God himself has wrought destruction on Death and the Devil (Heb. 2:14).

Therefore, may we take strength and joy on this Holy Saturday, knowing that Jesus Christ has gone before us, even to death. Thanks be to God.

- Clayton Hornback

O God,Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that,

as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the

coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,for ever and ever. Amen.

EASTERSUNDAYJOHN 19:38 - 42THE GOD WHO RISES FROM THE GRAVE

Christ the Lord is risen today.Hallelujah!

Easter is the Father’s “Amen” to the Son’s “it is finished.” Today we join Christians throughout the centuries and around the globe in celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. It is the central truth upon which all our hopes rest. The Apostle Paul stated, “if Christ is not raised, your faith is in vain.” Or, as one author put it, “We Christians put all our eggs in the Easter basket.”

Today’s reading describes the disciples hiding behind closed doors, locked in fear and leveled by failure. They had done the unthinkable. When the soldiers took Jesus, they took off. How could they overcome their failure; conquer their fears; face the future? There they sat—despairing,dejected, defeated.

Then Jesus appeared. Heads lifted. Eyes turned. Mouths dropped. The door was still locked, but there He stood. The stone could not keep Him in, and the door could not keep Him out.

Jesus broke the silence with a word of comfort, not condemnation... “Peace.”

Their lives had been anything but peaceful since Jesus was arrested, tried and crucified. But there He stood – death conqueror, overcomer, victor. They rejoiced. That is an understatement. They were thrilled with joy!

The reality of the resurrection transformed these fearful followers into courageous witnesses. You could threaten them, imprison them, flog them, even kill them— but you could not make them deny their core conviction that on the third day,He rose again.

Faith had overcome fear; joy replaced sorrow; hope supplanted despair. If God could do this...if He could raise Jesus from the dead...then all things are truly possible!

What was true for the disciples then is true for you today. Allow the reality of the resurrection to infuse your heart with hope and joy and life.

Christ’s resurrection is the resurrection of all things. For He who died has been raised and He is making all things new!

- Tim Kallam

EASTERSUNDAYJOHN 19:38 - 42THE GOD WHO RISES FROM THE GRAVE

Christ the Lord is risen today.Hallelujah!

Easter is the Father’s “Amen” to the Son’s “it is finished.” Today we join Christians throughout the centuries and around the globe in celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. It is the central truth upon which all our hopes rest. The Apostle Paul stated, “if Christ is not raised, your faith is in vain.” Or, as one author put it, “We Christians put all our eggs in the Easter basket.”

Today’s reading describes the disciples hiding behind closed doors, locked in fear and leveled by failure. They had done the unthinkable. When the soldiers took Jesus, they took off. How could they overcome their failure; conquer their fears; face the future? There they sat—despairing,dejected, defeated.

Then Jesus appeared. Heads lifted. Eyes turned. Mouths dropped. The door was still locked, but there He stood. The stone could not keep Him in, and the door could not keep Him out.

Jesus broke the silence with a word of comfort, not condemnation... “Peace.”

Their lives had been anything but peaceful since Jesus was arrested, tried and crucified. But there He stood – death conqueror, overcomer, victor. They rejoiced. That is an understatement. They were thrilled with joy!

The reality of the resurrection transformed these fearful followers into courageous witnesses. You could threaten them, imprison them, flog them, even kill them— but you could not make them deny their core conviction that on the third day,He rose again.

Faith had overcome fear; joy replaced sorrow; hope supplanted despair. If God could do this...if He could raise Jesus from the dead...then all things are truly possible!

What was true for the disciples then is true for you today. Allow the reality of the resurrection to infuse your heart with hope and joy and life.

Christ’s resurrection is the resurrection of all things. For He who died has been raised and He is making all things new!

- Tim Kallam

Almighty God,who through your only-begotten

Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened tous the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who

celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection,may be raised from the death of sin by your

life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord,who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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