March flew by, and with it went my sanity. We've been processing through so many things, and I hope to share in the future. BUT, for now, several of you asked for my Holy Week family devotionals post again. I was attempting to be techno savy and discover how to link them in a pdf, but I still need some help :) Here is Sunday and Monday! My goal is to post these each a day in advance. These are the ones I wrote several years ago for our home church.
Wishing you a Holy Week where your experience our Savior's love and pursuit,
Catie
Passion Week – Palm Sunday
Jesus the King
Read Zechariah 9:9 and Matthew 21:1-11
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” The praises echoed in Jesus’ ears as He entered Jerusalem on a donkey.
Each year the people of God went to the town of Jerusalem to remember how God protected them during the Passover in Egypt. They remembered how God led them through the desert to freedom. As Jesus entered the town of Jerusalem, the crowds and his disciples shouted His name with excitement. They laid their cloaks and palm branches on the ground to prepare the way for Him. They had seen his mighty works. Many people believed He was the Messiah. In fact, the prophet Zechariah had said hundreds of years before that Israel’s king would come for their salvation. Now, as they celebrated, these men, women and children hoped Jesus would save them from Rome’s harsh control. They wanted Jesus to be their King.
Jesus had come to save and rescue His people, just like the prophet Zechariah said. But His salvation would not be what the people thought they wanted. They wanted to be comfortable, to be free from all the mean things Rome did. Jesus wanted them to be victorious, and to be free from sin forever so they could experience true life in God’s presence.
· What would it have been like to see Jesus enter Jerusalem?
· Was Jesus the kind of Messiah many had hoped for? Why or why not?
· What do you think Jesus was thinking as he entered Jerusalem?
· Thank God for sending Jesus to be our one true King.
· Praise God by singing verse 1 of “I Will Sing of My Redeemer.”
I will sing of my Redeemer and his wondrous love to me: on the cruel cross he suffered, from the curse to set me free.
Chorus:
Sing, O sing of my Redeemer! With His blood He purchased me; on the cross he sealed my pardon, paid the debt and made me free.
Philip P. Bliss, 1876
Passion Week – Holy Monday
Jesus in the Temple
Read Matthew 21: 12-17
They had celebrated and honored Him as their King. He was the Messiah, the only Son of the one true God. Now, one day later, He entered His Father’s temple. But the people inside were not worshipping the Father. Instead, they used the one true God’s special house to make money and become important. They dishonored the name of God. Rather than protecting the poor and sick people God loved, they robbed them in His own house. In holy anger, Jesus rebuked and drove out all those people who had mocked the name of God through their disobedient actions. And in the same temple where they were put down, the poor, sick and helpless came to Jesus to find healing through the true life He offered. They came to Jesus to be rescued.
· What is the difference between holy anger and sinful anger?
· How would it have made you feel to see Jesus angry?
· How can you honor God by caring for the poor and sick?
· Thank God for the opportunities He gives you to serve and obey Him.
· Praise God by singing verse 1 and the chorus of “Trust and Obey”:
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
John H. Sammis 1887
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