Christian Reflection and Prayer

Read Psalm 143.

TEXT: And my tongue sticks to my jaws (see Psalm 22:15).

Jesus has used powerful imagery to describe His thirst:
poured out like water, heart melted like wax, strength dried
up. Now His tongue sticks to His jaws.

He has had nothing to drink since the Last Supper, unless
perhaps the angel that ministered to Him during His prayer in
the Garden of Gethsemane gave him some liquid refreshment.
But even in that intense prayer in the Garden, Jesus began
pouring Himself out for us. Luke tells us His sweat "became
like great drops of blood falling down to the ground"
(see Luke 22:44). From that moment on no water or other
drink was permitted Him.

Hanging naked on the cross, under the blazing sun, Jesus
grows more and more dehydrated. He is so thirsty His tongue
sticks to His jaws. The Roman soldiers fill a sponge with wine
vinegar and hold it in front of His lips, but just beyond His reach,
it's part of their cruel mockery (see Luke 23:36). Only in the
moments before His death-after Jesus has finished paying for
our sins-will He actually receive a drink.

Jesus gave us a similar description of hell in His account of the
rich man and Lazarus. Here, the rich man "in Hades, being in
torment ... called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and
send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my
tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' But Abraham said,
'Child, ... between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in
order that those who would pass from here to you may not be
able, and none may cross from there to us'" (see Luke 16:23-26).

Jesus suffered the fires of hell and great thirst on the cross so
you and I need never go thirsty.

THE PRAYER:

Lord Jesus Christ, You endured the pangs of hell in my place.
Guard me in this faith as You bring me through this life to Your
glorious home. Amen.

(Lenten Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries)

Read Psalm 75.

TEXT: My strength is dried up like a potsherd
(see Psalm 22:15).

Jews commonly used clay pots to store water. When a
jar broke into shards or pieces (called potsherds) it was
utterly useless. No longer able to hold water the shards
that once made up that pot dried up and grew brittle
under the blazing sun.

The image of a broken pot fits in well with the previous
verse where Jesus says He is poured out like water, and
His heart has melted within His breast. Jesus' body has
been lashed, beaten, pierced and stretched out of joint.
Like a broken pot, His lifeblood pours out from His head,
His hands, His feet, His battered shoulders, back and legs.
His life and strength slowly ebbs away.

If you stop a moment and think of Judas, the disciple that
betrayed Jesus, you see another shattered pot. After he
learned Jesus was condemned, Judas felt great regret for
his sin. But instead of trusting Jesus' promise to forgive
and restore him, Judas went out and hanged himself. The
priests took the betrayal money and bought the field where
Judas killed himself as a burial ground for strangers. That
field was a potter's field, a field strewn with broken
potsherds. Through his lack of faith and subsequent
suicide Judas became another broken pot, good for
nothing but destruction.

All of us are cracked clay pots, if not broken and shattered.
Yet in mercy Jesus comes to repair His broken pots, to
make us useful for God's purposes again. As we live out
our vocations we serve God by serving one another. As we
share the news of Jesus' sacrifice, the Spirit is at work,
repairing other broken pots.

THE PRAYER:

Lord Jesus Christ, You were like a shattered pot on the
cross, pouring out Your lifeblood for our salvation. Repair
my shattered life, and work through me to fulfill Your
purpose for my life. Amen.

(Lenten Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries)

Read Ezekiel 11: 14-21. TEXT: My heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast (see Psalm 22:14).

Sin hardens our hearts, turning them to stone. We will
never see that more clearly than in the case of Jesus'
enemies who coldly and callously abused, ridiculed,
taunted and tormented Him in His agony. We have that
same stone-cold heart when we see our neighbor
suffering and in need and feel no pity, no concern for his
or her plight.

Jesus' tender heart, His inmost soul, is melting under
the fiery wrath of God. That same tender heart had taken
pity and moved Jesus to cleanse lepers, heal the deaf,
blind, mute and paralyzed, cast out demons, and offer
compassion to lost and wandering crowds. This heart
which has never turned hard or calloused now bleeds as
it is blasted by the fiery wrath of God for our hard-
heartedness.
 
Jesus was heartbroken by friends who betrayed, denied
and fled from Him. He had to deal with enemies who
persecuted Him and dogged His every step; chief priests
and Jewish leaders who sought His death; a Roman
governor who abandoned Him to their will; and crowds
that mocked and taunted His agony on the cross. But
more than anything, His heart was broken by His Father's
turning His back on Him, and unleashing His fury on His
only begotten Son -- the Lamb of God who was taking
away the sin of the world.

What heart can see such love in action and not soften in
response? Who can see all his or her sins laid on Jesus,
see the great agony and sacrifice He endured for them,
and not be moved to tears of repentance, thankfulness
and faith by our Savior's great heart and sacrifice?


THE PRAYER:

Lord Jesus Christ, You sacrificed Your body, heart, mind
and soul to win our salvation. Melt our hearts in
repentance and faith. Amen.

(Lenten Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries)