Christian Reflection and Prayer

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)

Read Psalm 102.

TEXT: I am poured out like water, and all my bones are
out of joint (see Psalm 22:14).

Jesus is exhausted. He spent the previous night in
prayer, pleading with His Father to take away the cup-the
suffering that was about to befall Him. Jesus didn't fear
death, but He struggled with being forsaken by His Father
and being lashed with His fiery wrath at our sins. Three
hours later He came out of the garden composed and
ready-but physically drained.

That was only the beginnings of His sufferings. After
condemning Him, the Jewish high court punched, slapped
and struck Him. Pilate's soldiers savagely flogged Him,
drove a crown of thorns down over His head, and struck
Him over the head repeatedly with a reed. The heavy cross
bar was placed on His bloody shoulders, and He was forced
to carry it to the place of execution. He was a strong man,
a carpenter, but the abuse He suffered for our sins was so
great He collapsed under the weight. Too weak and weary to
carry it all the way Himself, the Roman soldiers finally
ordered a bystander in the crowd, Simon of Cyrene, to carry
it the rest of the way.

Psalm 22 masterfully describes this exhaustion, "I am
poured out like water."

Then King David adds an incredible prophetic detail, "All my
bones are out of joint." In this grisly form of execution, the
weight of the body hangs on the arms, putting tremendous
strain on the joints in the arms and shoulders. It's as though
He was stretched on the rack. What makes this passage so
remarkable is that King David was completely unfamiliar with
crucifixion, yet he describes it in incredible detail. And those
details will become even more striking in the verses to follow.

THE PRAYER:

Lord Jesus Christ, what sufferings You endured to free me of
my sins and God's wrath. Receive my heartfelt gratitude and
praise forever. Amen.

(Lenten Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries)