Phillips: the well-attested fact

Saturday, April 19, 2014
    Holy Saturday
    Commemoration of Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1012
Meditation:
    “What things?” he asked.
    “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.”
    —Luke 24:19-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I have spoken of the birth of Jesus Christ as a well-attested fact of history, but, of course, it became that, for the most part, in retrospect. For as the Holy Babe grew to manhood it was only here and there that men recognized what they were seeing—God focused in human form. When the final tragedy came and the forces of darkness conspired to put out the Light, probably a mere handful retained their faith. It was the reverberating miracle of the Resurrection, witnessed and vouched for by hundreds of reliable witnesses, which settled the matter, and transformed dispirited disciples into determined heroes prepared to challenge and change the world.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), God With Us: a Message for Christmas, London: Epworth Press, 1957, p. 9-10 (see the book)
    See also Luke 24:19-21; Ps. 16:9-11; Jon. 1:17; Matt. 16:16-17; 28:9-10; Mark 16:2-7; Luke 2:27-38; 24:5-7; John 1:4-5; 11:25-26; 20:9-17; Acts 13:30-37; 17:30-31; Rom. 6:23; 1 Cor. 15:3-8,14,20-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have revealed Yourself and Your plan for the salvation of the world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bernard: O sacred Head, now wounded

Friday, April 18, 2014
    Good Friday
Meditation:
    Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.
    —Matthew 27:27-30 (NIV)
Quotation:
O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown;
How art Thou pale with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish, which once was bright as morn!

What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered, was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ’Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor, vouchsafe to me Thy grace.
    ... Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), included in Masterpieces of Religious Verse, James Dalton Morrison, ed., New York: Harper & Bros., 1948, p. 198 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 27:27-30; Ps. 69:7; Isa. 53:3-5; Matt. 20:18-19; Mark 15:16-19; Luke 23:3-37; John 19:1-3; Rom. 5:8; Heb. 12:2-3; 1 Pet. 3:18-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the King.

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Yancey: redemption for traitors

Thursday, April 17, 2014
    Maundy Thursday
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
    —Matthew 26:56 (NIV)
Quotation:
    How easily we forget that the church was founded by disciples who betrayed their master. None was willing to stand by Jesus as the religious and political authorities condemned him to death. At his moment of greatest need, the disciples fled in the darkness. The boldest of the lot, Peter, was the very one who cursed and denied him three times before the cock crew. It was for traitors that Jesus died.
    ... Philip Yancey (b. 1949), Soul Survivor, New York: Doubleday, 2001, p. 285 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 26:56; 9:13; Mark 2:17; 14:29-31,66-72; Luke 5:32; 22:54-61; Rom. 5:8; 1 Tim. 1:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we who have deserted You ask for forgiveness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Neill: the joy of Christ

Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
    —John 16:33 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    The ordinary group of worshipping Christians, as the preacher sees them from the pulpit, does not look like a collection of very joyful people, in fact, they look on the whole rather sad, tired, depressed people. It is certain that such people will never win the world for Christ... It is no use trying to pretend: we may speak of joy and preach about it: but, unless we really have the joy of Christ in our hearts and manifest it, our words will carry no conviction to our hearers.
    ... Stephen Neill (1900-1984), The Christian Character, London: Lutterworth Press, 1955, p. 33-34 (see the book)
    See also John 16:33; Ps. 9:2; Luke 2:10; 6:22-23; 10:20; 24:52; 1 Thess. 1:6; 5:16; 1 Pet. 1:8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, fill my heart with the joy of the gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Neill: have we not the same promise?

Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Meditation:
    Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”
    —John 16:19-22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It was on the last night of His life, when His enemies were all around Him, that He spoke to His disciples of the joy that no man taketh away. Read again the story of His Passion: Jesus is seen throughout as calm, quiet, and confident. His last word is, “Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit.” Someone may say, “Yes, but He knew that He was going to rise from the dead.” But have we not the same promise for ourselves? [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Stephen Neill (1900-1984), The Christian Character, London: Lutterworth Press, 1955, p. 33 (see the book)
    See also John 16:19-22; Luke 23:46; John 5:25; 6:40; 16:33; 1 Cor. 6:14; Phil. 3:10-11; 1 Thess. 4:14-16; 2 Tim. 1:10; Heb. 12:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people trust Your promise. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barth: betrayal

Monday, April 14, 2014
Meditation:
    When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders.
    “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
    “What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
    So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
    —Matthew 27:3-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It might be well for us not to turn away too quickly from Judas, with a feeling of abhorrence. He is nearer to us than we imagine. He did nothing else than to hold this last, inner position of man against God in a critical moment and with obstinacy. He profoundly perceived that with Jesus and himself it was either He or “I,” and he decided for the “I.”
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), from “Jesus and Judas”, in Come Holy Spirit: Sermons, New York: Round Table Press, 1933, reprint, Mowbrays, 1978, p. 131 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 27:3-5; Ps. 109:8; Zech.11:12-13; Matt. 26:14-16; Mark 14:43-46; Luke 22:3-6; John 13:27; 1 Pet. 1:18-19
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I confess that I have often betrayed You, seeking my own way. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Rutherford: with palms

Sunday, April 13, 2014
    Palm Sunday
Meditation:
    After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
    —Revelation 7:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    This world never looked like a friend upon you. Ye owe it little love. It looked ever sour-like upon you. Howbeit ye should woo it, it will not match with you; and therefore never seek warm fire under cold ice. This is not a field where your happiness groweth; it is up above, where there are a great multitude, which no man can number, of all nations and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1848, letter to Lady Kenmure, Sept. 14, 1634, p. 69 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 7:9; Lev. 23:39-40; Matt. 6:24; 21:8-9; Mark 11:8-10; Luke 16:13; 19:36-38; John 12:12-13; 15:19; 18:36; Rom. 12:2; Col. 3:1-2; Jas. 4:4; 1 John 2:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, turn me away from the praise of the world and towards You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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